














COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 





EDWARD STRATEMEYER’S BOOKS 


©IS ©lotg Scries 

•SYjtr Volumes. Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume $1.25. 

UNDER DEWEY AT MANILA. UNDER OTIS IN THE PHILIPPINES. 

A YOUNG VOLUNTEER IN CUBA. THE CAMPAIGN OF THE JUNGLE. 
FIGHTING IN CUBAN WATERS. UNDER MacARTHUR IN LUZON. 

Bounti to Succeed Series 

Three Volumes. Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume $1.00. 
RICHARD DARE’S VENTURE. OLIVER BRIGHT’S SEARCH. 

TO ALASKA FOR GOLD. 

Sjjtp anti Shore juries 

Three Volumes. Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume $1.00. 

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE SPITFIRE. TRUE TO HIMSELF. 

REUBEN STONE’S DISCOVERY. 

Mar anti ^tofoenture Stories 

Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume $1.25. 

ON TO PEKIN. BETWEEN BOER AND BRITON. 

American Bogs’ Biographical Series 

Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume $1.25. 

AMERICAN BOYS’ LIFE OF WILLIAM McKINLEY. 

Another volume in preparation. 

Colonial Series 

Cloth. Illustrated. 

WITH WASHINGTON IN THE WEST. Price $1.25. 

MARCHING ON NIAGARA. Price $i, net. 

AT THE FALL OF MONTREAL. Price $1, net. 

•pan=&merican Series 

Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume $1, net. 

LOST ON THE ORINOCO. THE YOUNG VOLCANO EXPLORERS. 

THE YOUNG EXPLORERS OF THE ISTHMUS. 

Meriting Upfoarti Series 

Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume $1. 

BOUND TO BE AN ELECTRICIAN. SHORTHAND TOM, THE REPORTER. 
THE YOUNG AUCTIONEER. FIGHTING FOR HIS OWN. 


JOE, THE SURVEYOR. Price, $0.80 , net. 






. \ 





































* 












































































It leaped forward with lowered antlers directly for the 
young 1 lumberman . — Page 56. 


(Breat Hmencan llntmstnes Series 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

OR 


FROM MAINE TO OREGON FOR FORTUNE 


BY 


EDWARD STRATEMEYER 

u 


Author of “At the Fall of Montreal,” “Young Explorers of the 
Isthmus,” “American Boy’s Life of William McKinley,” 

“ Old Glory Series,” “ Between Boer and 
Briton,” “On to Pekin,” etc. 


ILLUSTRATED BY A. B. SIIUTE 




BOSTON 

LEE AND SHEPARD 
1903 


Published, October, 1903 




Thfc LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 



Copyright Entry 

'I%.i<\c3 

CLASS 0 AO xxc. No 

4 7 -Z-O 7 

COPY A. ‘ 


Copyright, 1903, by Lee and Shepard 


All rights reserved 


Two Young Lumbermen 



morwoo& tfress 


Berwick & Smith 
Norwood, Mass. 


A^C.GPct, '13 


PREFACE 


“ Two Young Lumbermen ” is a complete story 
in itself, but forms the first volume of a line to be 
issued under the general title of “ Great American 
Industries Series. ,, 

In beginning this series, I have in mind to acquaint 
our boys and young men with the main details of a 
number of industries which have become of prime 
importance, not alone to ourselves as a nation, but 
likewise to a large part of the world in general. 

Our United States is a large country and con- 
sequently the industries are many, yet none is per- 
haps of greater importanc^than that of the lumber 
trade. Lumber gives us material for our buildings 
and our ships, our railroads and our telegraph lines, 
and furnishes the pulp from which millions of pounds 
of paper are made annually. We export lumber to 
Europe, to the West Indies, and even to the Orient, 
drawing on a forest treasure that covers thousands 
of square miles of territory. 

The tale opens in Maine, which in years gone by 
was the paradise of the American lumberman. In 
those days pine was king, and Maine became known 

V 


VI 


PREFACE 


far and wide as the Pine Tree State. When the 
best of the pine had disappeared, spruce claimed the 
logger’s attention; and then the lumberman looked 
elsewhere for his timber, first in Michigan and along 
the Great Lakes, and in the South, and then in Cali- 
fornia, and in that vast section of our country 
drained by the Columbia (or Oregon) River. 

The two young lumbermen of this story are hardly 
heroes in the accepted sense of that term. They are 
bright youths of to-day, willing to work hard for 
what they get, but always on the alert to better their 
condition. As choppers, river-drivers, mill hands, 
and general camp workers they have a variety of ad- 
ventures, but only such as fall to the lot of more than 
one lumberman working in the woods of Maine, 
Michigan, or Oregon to^ay. It was in the Far West 
that they found their greatest opportunity for ad- 
vancement, and how they made the most of that 
chance is described in the pages which follow. 

In presenting this work the author desires once 
again to thank the many who have interested them- 
selves in his previous books. May they find the 
reading of this volume even more interesting and 
profitable. 

Edward Stratemeyer. 

August i, 1Q03. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 



PAGE 

I. 

A Talk about Employment, . 


. I 

II. 

What Happened at the Brook, 


. 10 

III. 

Two Young Lumbermen at Home, 


. 20 

IV. 

A Fresh Start, .... 


. 29 

V. 

Something about the Maine Lumber Trade, 39 

VI. 

Deep in the Woods, 


• 48 

VII. 

The Dangers of Log-Rolling, 


. 57 

VIII. 

Christmas, and an Unexpected Arrival, 

. 67 

IX. 

Dale and Owen Speak Their Mind, 


. 76 

X. 

What Happened in the Woods, 


. 85 

XI. 

Springtime in the Camp, 


. 95 

XII. 

The Lodge at Pine Tree Lake, . 


. 105 

XIII. 

A Log Jam on the Penobscot, 


• ii 5 

XIV. 

Bertie and Gertrude, 


. 125 

XV. 

Two Little Runaways, 


• 135 

XVI. 

Pursued by the Forest Fire, 


. 144 

XVII. 

The Raging of the Elements, 


• 154 

XVIII. 

Bound for the Great Lakes, 


. 164 

XIX. 

A Talk on the Train, 


• 173 

XX. 

At John Hoover’s Home, 


. 182 

XXI. 

An Unsigned Contract, 


. 192 

XXII. 

A Lumber Boat in a Storm, . 

• 

. 202 

XXIII. 

Off for Oregon, .... 


. 212 


vii 


viii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XXIV. Something about the Northwest Lumber 

Industry, 221 

XXV. An Interview with Ulmer Balasco, . . 229 

XXVI. In an Oregon Forest, .... 238 

XXVII. What Happened to the Log Train, . . 248 

XXVIII. Jefferson Wilbur Seeks Information, . 257 

XXIX. Matters of Importance, .... 267 

XXX. Ulmer Balasco Shows His Hand, . . 276 

XXXI. The Crisis, 285 

XXXI I . An Unexpected Appointment, . . . 294 

XXXIII. The Railroad Contract, . . . . 303 

XXXIV. Dale Comes into His Own, .... 312 


XXXV. End of the Contract and of the Story, . 321 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 


It leaped forward with lowered antlers direct- 
ly for the young lumberman ( Frontispiece ) 56 

“ Want a job, eh ? ” 35 

“ A bear ! ” cried Dale 91 

Logs rose and fell in front and on each side 

of them 126 

“ Jump ! Don’t wait ! Jump ! ” yelled Owen, 145 
“ Have ye got ’em ? ” he demanded, in a 

shrill voice 183 

11 Hurrah ! it’s down ! ” cried Dale .... 242 

Ulmer Balasco shook his fist in the young 
lumberman’s face 306 



TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

CHAPTER I 


A TALK ABOUT EMPLOYMENT 

“ Do you mean to tell me that Hickley said he 
wouldn’t send over that lot of logs I ordered last 
week ? ” 

“ That is what he said, Mr. Larson. He is short 
himself, and said he told you he thought he couldn’t 
spare them. Not a drive hais come down the river 
for three weeks.” 

“ I know that, Bradford.” John Larson, the owner 
of the Enterprise Lumber Mill, rubbed his chin 
thoughtfully. “ It’s hard luck. I guess I’ll have to 
shut down after all. And I was calculating to keep 
you all working.” 

The face of Dale Bradford became as serious as 
that of his employer. “ How soon will you close up 
the mill ? ” he asked after a pause. 

“ As soon as those logs over yonder are cut up.” 
The owner of the sawmill kicked a block of wood 
out of his way rather savagely. “ It’s a shame not 
to get logs, with so much timber cut ready to use.” 


2 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ The pulp mill is what’s done it,” replied Dale. 
“ They have a big contract to fill, so I was told over 
in Oldtown, and so they are willing to pay big prices 
for any sort of stuff.” 

“ You’re right, Bradford. They’ll buy little 
sticks that we couldn’t afford to handle.” 

“ What we’ve got on hand won’t keep us going 
longer than Saturday,” continued Dale, gazing 
around at the small pile of logs resting partly in and 
partly out of the stream upon which the sawmill was 
situated. 

“ Just about Saturday.” 

“ And there’s no telling when we’ll be able to start 
up again, I suppose.” 

“ Just as soon as I can get hold of the stuff to 
go ahead with. I don’t like to have the mill idle any 
more than you or the others like to be out of work.” 

“ I’ll have to get something to do pretty quick,” 
said Dale earnestly. “ I can’t live on nothing.” 

“ You ought to have something saved.” 

“ A fellow can’t save much out of six dollars a 
week, Mr. Larson. Besides, I’ve been paying off 
that little debt my father left when he died.” 

“ I see, I see,” interposed the mill owner hastily. 
“ You’re a good sort of a lad, Dale — as good a lad as 
your father was a man. If we shut down on Satur- 
day perhaps I can keep you on a week longer — clean- 


A TALK ABOUT EMPLOYMENT 


3 


ing up around the mill and along the river, and doing 
other odd jobs. That will give you more time in 
which to look for another opening.” 

The head sawyer of the mill now came up to ques- 
tion John Larson concerning the cutting up of cer- 
tain large logs, and Dale moved away to resume his 
regular work, that of piling up the boards in the little 
yard adjoining the steamboat landing. 

It was hard work, especially in this summer, noon- 
day sun, but Dale was used to it and did not com- 
plain. And this was a good thing, as nobody would 
have listened to his complaint, for all around that 
mill worked just as hard as he did. John Larson 
was a just man, but a strict one, and he required 
every man he employed to earn his salary. 

Dale Bradford was an orphan, eighteen years of 
age, tall, muscular, healthy, and as sunburnt as out- 
door life could make him. He was the only son of 
Joel Bradford, who in years gone by had owned a 
good-sized lumber tract on the west branch of the 
Penobscot River, in Maine, where this story opens. 

When a small boy Dale had had two sisters, and 
his home with his parents, on the shore of Chesun- 
cook Lake, had been a happy one. But the death 
of the two sisters and the mother had caused great 
grief to the father and the son, and it can truthfully 
be said that after these loved ones were laid away in 


4 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

the little cemetery among the pines, Joel Bradford 
was never the same. He lost interest in his lum- 
ber camp and in the spot that had been his home for 
so many years, and at the first opportunity he sold 
out and moved down to Bangor. 

It was at Bangor that he fell in with several men 
who were interested in the gold and silver mines of 
the great West. One of these men induced him to 
invest nearly all his money in a mine said to be 
located in Oregon. The ground was purchased by 
Joel Bradford, and preparations were made to begin 
mining on a small scale, when word came that no 
gold or silver was to be found in that locality, and the 
scheme fell through, and the man who had induced 
Mr. Bradford to invest disappeared. 

The money lost in this transaction amounted to 
six thousand dollars — nearly the whole of Joel Brad- 
ford’s capital — and the former lumberman felt the 
blow keenly. He grew reckless and speculated in 
lumber in and around Bangor, and soon found him- 
self in debt to the sum of five hundred dollars. This 
he paid all but a hundred dollars, when, during 
unusually severe weather on the river, he contracted 
pneumonia, from which he never recovered. 

Dale was not yet seventeen years of age when he 
found 'himself utterly alone in the world, for this 
branch of the Bradford family had never been large 


A TALK ABOUT EMPLOYMENT 


5 


and the grandparents had come to Maine from Con- 
necticut years before. Dale had a fair common- 
school education, but most of his life had been spent 
at the lumber camps and along the river and the 
lakes with his father. He could fell a tree almost as 
well as a regular lumberman, and had followed more 
than one drive down the stream to the boom or the 
sawmill. 

“ I’ve got to buckle in and make a man of myself,” 
was what he told himself after the first great grief 
over the loss of his father was over. “ I can’t afford 
to sit down and do nothing. I’ve got to support 
myself, and pay off that debt father left behind him.” 

He had been doing odd jobs for a lumber firm 
owning an interest in yards at Bangor and at Old- 
town, twelve miles further up the Penobscot. But 
these did not pay very well, and he looked fur- 
ther, until he struck Larson’s Run, a small settle- 
ment located on a tributary of the big river. Lar- 
son had known Joel Bradford well for years, and 
had purchased many a cut of logs from him. 

“ So your father is dead and you want a job,” 
John Larson had said. “ Well, I’ll give you the 
best that I have open ”; and then and there he had 
engaged Dale at a salary of four dollars per week, a 
sum which was afterwards raised to six dollars. 

Dale secured board with a mill hand living near by, 


6 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


and as soon as he was settled he began a systematic 
reduction of the debt his father had left unpaid. He 
felt that this was a duty he owed to the memory of 
his parent and to the honor of the family at large. 

“ They shan’t say that he swindled anybody,” was 
the way he put it to himself. “ I’ll pay every dollar 
of it before I buy a thing for myself that isn’t actu- 
ally necessary.” 

In the bottom of his trunk at the boarding house 
Dale had the deed to the land in Oregon which his 
father had purchased- — that unfortunate transaction 
that had practically beggared them. The young lum- 
berman often read the papers over carefully. They 
showed that his father had been the sole owner of 
many acres of territory located in the heart of the 
great West. Of this great tract of land Dale was 
now the sole owner. 

“ And to think that the tract is only a rocky moun- 
tain side, good for nothing at all,” he would say 
with a sigh. “ Now, if it were only a stretch of farm 
land, I might go out and try my luck at farming 
some day. I guess it’s only fit for a stone quarry, — 
same as the rocky lands here, — but nobody wants a 
quarry out there, a hundred miles or more from no- 
where at all.” 

So far Dale had managed to pay up all but thirty 
dollars of the debt left behind by his parent. He 


A TALK ABOUT EMPLOYMENT 7 

might have paid this, but a log had rolled on his foot, 
causing him a bruise that had kept him from work for 
two weeks and given him a doctor’s bill to pay in 
addition. 

The thirty dollars was owing to a riverman named 
Hen McNair. The fellow was a Scotchman and 
exceedingly close-fisted, and he had bothered Dale 
a good deal, hoping to have his claim paid at once. 

“ You can pay up if you want to,” said McNair 
in his Scotch accent. “ If you’ve not the money 
sell off some of your things.” 

“ I’ve sold off all I can spare,” had been Dale’s 
reply. “ You’ll have to wait. From next Satur- 
day on I’ll pay you two dollars a week.” 

“ Hoot ! ’Twill be fifteen weeks — nigh four 
months — before we come to the end.” 

“ It’s the very best I can do.” 

“ Can’t you pay me five or ten dollars now? ” 

“ No. The most I can give you is two dollars.” 

“ Then give me that. And see you keep your 
word about the balance.” And stuffing the bill Dale 
handed him into his pocket, Hen McNair had gone 
off grumbling something about the want of honor 
in a lad who wouldn’t pull himself together and pay 
his father’s honest debts. 

The sawmill owned by John Larson was run both 
by water power and by steam — the latter helping 


8 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


out the former when the flow of the stream was not 
at its best. Rain had been wanting for several 
weeks, and this had delayed a drive of logs the mill 
owner had counted on, and had also made it necessary 
to depend entirely on steam as a motive power. The 
plant employed twenty-four hands, and this and an- 
other mill on the opposite shore were the main in- 
dustries of the Run. 

“ How did you make out about those logs, Dale? ” 
questioned a fellow worker in the yard, as the young 
lumberman resumed his labors. 

“ Didn’t get them,” was the laconic answer. 

“ Didn’t think you would,” went on Philip Som- 
mers. “ Hickley is in with the pulp mill. If he 
can’t get logs, what is the old man going to do ? ” 

“ He’ll have to shut down.” 

“Phew! That’s bad!” 

“ Yes, and the worst of it is there is no telling 
when we’ll start up again.” 

“ In that case I’m going to pack up and go up to 
the West Branch. A friend of mine is going to 
open up on a claim there about the first of October.” 

“ That is a good while yet. I can’t afford to be 
idle that long.” 

“ What will you do ? ” 

“ I don’t know yet — perhaps try the other mills.” 

“ Better try the pulp mill — they’ve got the business 


A TALK ABOUT EMPLOYMENT 9 

just now. Folks must have paper even if they don’t 
get boards,” and Philip Sommers gave a short 
laugh. 

“ I don’t think I’d care to work in a pulp mill,” 
answered Dale. “ I like a sawmill or else being out 
in a lumber camp. But I’d rather work in a pulp 
mill than be idle.” 

“ The pulp mill over Hullo, there goes the 

noon whistle ! ” Philip Sommers dropped the board 
he was carrying. “ Aint got time to talk any 
more,” he cried. “ Going home for something to 
eat.” And picking up his jacket from a lumber pile, 
he walked away, leaving Dale alone. 


CHAPTER II 


WHAT HAPPENED AT THE BROOK 

The hoarse whistle of the mill, proclaiming the 
noon hour, sounded out fully half a minute, and 
when it ceased the machinery in the mill also came 
to a stop, and men and boys poured forth to get their 
dinner. Some went to their homes, or to their 
boarding-places, while others, who lived at a distance 
and had brought their dinner with them, sought 
shady and cool spots along the bank of the stream. 

Dale did not quit work instantly, as Philip Som- 
mers had done. He, too, was carrying a board, and 
this he placed on a pile a hundred feet away, as 
originally intended. Then he straightened out the 
whole pile of boards, work that took another five 
minutes of his time. 

“ Hullo, Bradford, working overtime? ” cried one 
of the mill hands, who had quit at the first sound of 
the whistle. 

“ Sure,” answered Dale pleasantly. 

“ Of course the old man is going to pay you double 
wages for it.” 

“ Guess he will — if I ask him.” 

to 


WHAT HAPPENED AT THE BROOK 


II 


“ You won’t get a cent. Better stop and make the 
job last.” 

“ I’ll stop, now I have finished,” answered Dale, 
and walked away with a quiet smile. 

Although neither Dale nor the other workman 
knew it, John Larson overheard the conversation. 

“ Young Bradford is a good one,” he murmured. 
“ Just as good as his father was before him. Hang 
such men as Felton, who are always looking at their 
watches or waiting for the whistle to blow.” 

It soon became noised around among the workmen 
that their employer had been unable to obtain the 
logs he had sent for, and that evening, after the mill 
had shut down, a number of them waited on John 
Larson and asked him about the prospects. He was 
frank and told them what he had told Dale. 

“ I expected to keep going all summer,” he said. 
“ But I can’t do it, and after this week I’m afraid 
you’ll have to look for other openings.” 

As a consequence of this talk several of the men 
that very evening rowed over to the mill opposite, 
while some went down to the mills on the Penobscot. 
A few obtained other situations and left John Lar- 
son’s employ the next day, but the majority came 
back from their quests unsuccessful. 

By Saturday noon the big circular saws had cut up 
the last of the logs, and two hours later the men at 


12 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


the shingle machine also stopped work. Then en- 
sued several hours of sorting out and clearing up, 
and by five o’clock the hands of the Enterprise Lum- 
ber Mill were paid off and told that when they should 
be wanted again they would be notified. 

Dale had been asked by John Larson to remain 
after the others, and he did so. 

“ I told you I’d keep you another week,” said the 
mill owner. “ There is not a great deal to do, and 
you can come around every morning at six o’clock 
and work until twelve, and then have the rest of the 
day in which to hunt up another job. On Saturday 
I’ll pay you for a full week.” 

This was certainly very fair, and Dale thanked 
his employer heartily for his kindness. Yet the 
youth’s heart was heavy, for he knew that finding 
another opening would not be easy. 

“ I’ll tell you what to do, Dale,” said Frank Mar- 
tinson, the man with whom he boarded. “You try 
down to Crocker’s and over to Odell’s. Tell ’em I 
sent you. They’ll give you a job if they have any- 
thing at all to do.” 

“ All right, I will,” answered the young lumber- 
man. 

Crocker’s mill was located down on the Penob- 
scot. It was a new place, filled with the latest of 
machinery, and employing over half a hundred 


WHAT HAPPENED AT THE BROOK 1 3 

hands. Dale visited it on Monday afternoon, going 
down on a small lumber raft that happened to be 
passing. 

The din around this hive of industry was terrific, 
for Crocker turned out much lumber in the rough for 
a furniture company, and the buzzing and zipping 
went on constantly from morning till night. The 
mill itself was knee-deep in shavings and sawdust, a 
good portion of which was fed into the furnaces 
under the boilers for fuel. 

“ Sorry, young man, but I can’t take you on,” said 
the superintendent of the works. “ Had an opening 
last week, but it is filled now. Come around in two 
or three weeks. If Frank Martinson recommends 
you I know you’re all right.” And thus poor Dale 
had his trip for nothing. It took him until midnight 
to get home, and he had to walk a good part of the 
distance. 

But he was not one to give up easily, and two days 
later borrowed one of John Larson’s horses and di- 
rectly after dinner set off for the mill run by Peter 
Odell. This was up in the hills, on the edge of a 
small lake, a ride of thirteen miles. 

The way was rough, but Dale did not mind this, 
and as he loved to ride on horseback, the journey 
proved pleasant enough. Once he stopped at a 
brook to let the horse drink and sprang down him- 


14 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

self to quench his thirst and bathe his face and 
hands. 

“ This is like old times, when I used to be home 
with all the others/’ he thought. “ Oh, how I wish 
those times could come back.” 

At last he came in sight of the mill, nestling among 
the trees bordering the little lake — a scene full 
of rural beauty. To his surprise all was quiet about 
the place. 

“ It can’t be that Odell has shut down, too,” he 
thought. “ If that is so we ought to have heird 
of it before this.” 

He was just turning into a side path leading to 
the mill when a man leaped out from behind a clump 
of trees and caught his animal by the bridle. The 
fellow was a French-Canadian, with a dark face and 
dark, evil-looking eyes. 

“Hi! what do you mean by that?” demanded 
Dale. He did not like the looks of the stranger. 

“ You stop, talk wiz me,” said the Canadian. 

“ What do you want ? ” 

“ You go to de mill, yes? ” 

“ What if I am going to the mill ? ” 

At this the French-Canadian muttered something 
in French which the young lumberman could not 
understand. “ You look for job, hey? No job no 
more down by de Larson mill, hey? ” 


WHAT HAPPENED AT THE BROOK 1 5 

“ That is none of your business. Let go of my 
horse.” 

Again the man muttered something in French. 
“ You no go to de mill. Geet hurt sure. All mens 
dare on de strike. You go back.” And now he 
shook his fist in Dale’s face. 

“ Are you on a strike? ” 

“ Yees.” 

“ What are you striking about ? ” 

“ Dat none your bus’nees. You go back.” 

“ I will not go back ! ” declared Dale, his temper 
rising. “ If you don’t let go of that horse pretty 
quick, somebody will get hurt.” 

“ Hah ! You are von big fool ! ” snarled the man, 
and clung to the animal as tightly as ever. The horse 
began to prance, and, watching his chance, Dale 
leaned forward and struck the French-Canadian a 
sharp blow in the forehead that caused him to stag- 
ger back in dismay. 

“ Good for you ! ” sang out a voice not far off, 
and looking in the direction Dale saw a young man 
of twenty approaching. The newcomer was a 
young lumberman like himself, and Dale had met 
him several times, on the river and elsewhere. 

“ Hullo, Owen,” replied Dale. “ Who is this 
chap ? ” 

“ That is Baptiste Ducrot, one of the mill hands 


16 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

up here,” replied Owen Webb. “ Odell hired him 
about a month ago, but I guess he wishes he hadn’t, 
for the rascal drinks like a fish.” 

“ He says there is a strike on at the mill.” 

“ So there is, among the Canadians. They 
wanted me to join, but I wouldn’t do it.” 

While this talk was in progress, Baptiste Ducrot 
recovered himself and glared first at Dale and then 
at Owen Webb. Evidently he did not fancy the 
coming of his fellow workman to the spot. Dale 
now smelt the liquor on Ducrot and noticed that his 
steps were far from steady. He urged his horse for- 
ward, and left the French-Canadian standing in the 
road shaking his fist savagely. 

“ That was a neat crack you gave him,” observed 
Owen Webb, as he strode along beside Dale. “ I 
guess he won’t forgive you for it.” 

“ He had no business to stop me, Owen.” 

“ You’re right there. What brought you up? I 
heard something of a shut-down at Larson’s.” 

“ Yes, we’ve shut down and I came up here to 
look for work.” 

“ You came at a bad time — with some of the men 
on a strike.” 

“ That’s true.” Dale’s brow grew thoughtful. 
“ Perhaps I had better go back, after all. I don’t 
want to do some poor chap out of his job.” 


WHAT HAPPENED AT THE BROOK 1 7 

“ They don’t deserve work — half of them ! ” de- 
clared Owen. “ The crowd that is out is the drink- 
ing gang. They want more money to waste on 
liquor. All the steady fellows are working the same 
as usual.” 

“ Then I’ll see Mr. Odell and chance it. Where 
can I find him? ” 

“ He was in the mill a short while ago.” 

Owen had a mission up the lake and soon left 
Dale, and the latter dismounted and entered the mill, 
just as the machinery started up once more. 

Mr. Odell was a burly old lumberman of sixty. 
He had spent all his life in the woods and few knew 
woodcraft or mill work better than he. He gazed 
at Dale sharply when he listened to what the young 
lumberman had to say. 

“ Well, I guess I can give you a job, seeing as 
how about half of my crew is gone,” said Peter 
Odell. “ But I can’t guarantee it to last, for I’m 
’most in the same fix as Larson. The pulp mills 
have knocked the sawmills endways up here.” 

“ What about the strikers ? I don’t want to ” 

“ I haven’t any strikers around here. Those fel- 
lows drank too much and I discharged them, that’s 
all. I won’t take ’em back — I’ll lock up the mill 
first.” And the mill owner’s manner showed that he 
meant what he said. 


18 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

It was arranged that Dale should come to work the 
following Monday, at the same rate of wages he was 
now receiving. He was to labor both in and out of 
the mill and was to board at the same house where 
Owen Webb was stopping. This latter arrangement 
suited him exactly, for he had taken quite a fancy 
to Owen, who, like himself, was alone in the 
world. 

The summer day was drawing to a close when 
Dale started on his return to Larson’s Run. He 
looked around to see if Baptiste Ducrot was at hand, 
but the fellow did not show himself. 

“ I hope he keeps out of sight,” thought the young 
lumberman. “ I don’t want to have another quarrel 
with him.” 

The lake front was soon left behind and he 
plunged into the trail leading down the hillside. 
Under the trees it was quite dark, and he had to keep 
a tight rein on his horse for fear the animal might 
stumble and break a leg. 

“ I must return the horse in as good a condition 
as when I took him out,” he told himself. “ It 
wouldn’t be fair to Mr. Larson if I didn’t.” 

Soon he reached the brook where he had 
stopped to obtain a drink. Here he paused as be- 
fore. 

As he was bending to quench his thirst he heard a 


WHAT HAPPENED AT THE BROOK 19 

slight noise behind him. Then he received a violent 
push from the rear that sent him headlong into the 
stream. His head struck on the rocks at the bottom 
of the shallow watercourse, and for the time being he 
was partly stunned. 


CHAPTER III 

TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN AT HOME 

For several minutes Dale could think of nothing 
but that he was at the bottom of the brook and in 
danger of drowning. His head hurt, there was a 
strange ringing in his ears, and almost before he 
knew it he had gulped down a quantity of the cool 
water. 

But “ self-preservation is the first law of nature,” 
and even though dazed he floundered around and 
tried to pull himself up out of the stream. Twice 
he slipped back. Then his hand fastened on a tree 
root and he stuck there, gasping for breath, splut- 
tering, and trying to collect his senses. 

“ Who — who hit me ? ” he muttered at last. 

When he felt strong enough to do so, he crawled 
up the bank of the stream and sank in a heap at 
the foot of a big tree. On one side of his forehead 
wais a big lump, and on the other a small cut from 
which the blood was flowing. 

“ Just wait till I catch the fellow who did that,” 
he told himself. “ I’ll square up with him.” 

His mind reverted to Baptiste Ducrot. Had the 


20 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN AT HOME 


21 


French-Canadian been the one to attack him? It 
was more than likely. 

It was fully five minutes later when the young lum- 
berman made another discovery. He was bathing 
the cut when, on glancing around, he noted that the 
horse he had been riding had disappeared. 

“ Hullo, Jerry is gone,” he said to himself. 
“ Jerry! Jerry! Where are you?” he called. 

No sound came back in answer, nor did the ani- 
mal put in an appearance. Staggering to his feet, 
Dale walked a short distance up and down the water- 
course. It was useless ; the horse could not be found. 

With a sinking heart the young lumberman was 
retracing his steps to the ford when he saw a form 
on horseback advancing along the trail. As the 
person came closer he recognized Owen Webb. 

“ Owen!” 

“ Why, Dale, is that you ? ” 

“ Have you seen anything of my horse ? ” 

“Your horse? No. Didn’t you ride him back ? ” 

“ I rode him as far as here. Then somebody 
struck me and knocked me into the brook, and now 
the horse is gone,” went on Dale. 

He told the particulars of the occurrence so far as 
they were clear to him. Owen Webb was of a sym- 
pathetic nature, and as he listened his face grew 
clouded. 


22 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ It must have been Ducrot, Dale. It’s just like 
the cowardly sneak. Didn’t you see him at all ? ” 

“ No. I was attacked so quickly I didn’t know a 
thing until I was trying to pull myself out of the 
water. If he took the horse where do you suppose 
he went to ? ”• 

“ That’s a conundrum. It’s not likely he went on 
to Larson’s Run, for the folks there would recognize 
the horse. And he didn’t go back to Odell’s, or I 
should have met him.” 

“ I guess you are right, Owen. With the horse 
gone I don’t know what to do.” 

“ Let us make sure that he hasn’t strayed away, 
Dale. Then, if you wish, you can ride behind me. 
That’s better than walking the five miles.” 

Owen made a thorough search of the vicinity, 
while Dale again bathed his wound. No horse 
came to view, and a little later the journey to Lar- 
son’s Run was resumed. 

As said before, Owen Webb was a young man of 
twenty. He was alone in the world, and after the 
death of his parents had drifted from Portland to 
Bangor in search of employment. He had worked 
in several lumber yards and sawmills before hiring 
out to Peter Odell. He was a good workman and a 
clever fellow, and if he had any fault it was that of 
moving from one locality to another, “ just for the 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN AT HOME 23 

change/’ as he expressed it. He generally spent his 
money as fast as he made it, but his want of capital 
never bothered him. Like Dale, he was no drinker, 
as are, unfortunately, so many lumbermen, and if his 
money went, it went legitimately, for good board and 
clothing, music and newspapers, and charity. Dale 
had liked him from the start, and the more the pair 
saw of each other the more intimate did they become. 

Owen was bound for a blacksmith shop located 
near the Run, and at this place the two separated, 
and Dale continued his journey to John Larson’s 
home on foot. He felt much worried over the loss 
of Jerry, but resolved to make a clean breast of the 
matter and did so. 

John Larson was a good reader of character and 
saw that the young lumberman was telling him the 
strict truth. “ It must have been that Ducrot who 
took the horse,” he said. “ I know him and never 
liked him. Why Odell hired him is a mystery to 
me. I’ll send out an alarm and I guess I’ll get the 
horse back sooner or later.” 

“ And if you don’t, Mr. Larson, I’ll do what I 
can to pay for him,” said Dale. 

His last week at the Run soon came to an end, and 
Monday morning found Dale located at Odell’s, and 
as hard at work as ever. In the meantime Peter 
Odell had refused again to treat with the men who 


24 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

called themselves strikers, and one by one they left 
the locality, taking their belongings with them. 

The going away of these men left a vacancy at 
the boarding place where Owen was stopping, and 
this room was taken by Dale, so the two young lum- 
bermen saw more of each other than ever. Owen 
was a fair performer on the violin and the banjo, 
and Dale could play a harmonica and sing, and they 
often spent an evening over their music, which the 
other boarders listened to with keen relish, for 
amusements in that out-of-the-way spot were not 
numerous. 

For several weeks nothing out of the ordinary oc- 
curred. Dale worked hard, early and late, and for 
this Peter Odell gave him something extra to do, 
with extra pay. By this means the young lumber- 
man was enabled to save more than usual, and one 
Saturday afternoon he had the satisfaction of send- 
ing Hen McNair a letter containing Peter Odell’s 
check for the balance due the close-fisted river- 
man. 

“ That wipes out the last of my father’s debts,” 
said Dale to Owen. “ I can tell you it makes me 
feel like a different person to have everything paid.” 

“ I believe you, Dale. My father didn’t leave any 
debts, but I had to square up for the funeral, and that 
was no small sum.” 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN AT HOME 2$ 

“ Now all I have left to do is to square up for the 
horse that was stolen.” 

“ What was he worth ? ” 

“ I don't know exactly. I asked Mr. Larson, but 
he said to wait a while, that Jerry might turn up 
somewhere." 

So far the only word received concerning Bap- 
tiste Ducrot was through an old riverman, who 
had once seen the French-Canadian in a drinking 
resort near the upper end of Moosehead Lake. 
What had become of Ducrot after that nobody 
knew. 

The summer was drawing to an end, and still the 
saw T mill at Larson’s Run remained idle. It was im- 
possible to get logs, and soon Peter Odell began to 
complain. 

“ I shouldn’t be surprised if we had to shut down 
too,’’ said Owen one day. “ If we do, Dale, what are 
you going to do ? ’’ 

“ I’m sure I don’t know. This is certainly a hard 
year in the lumber trade.’’ 

“ I don’t believe it is as hard elsewhere as it is in 
Maine. My uncle, Jack Hoover, who owns a lum- 
ber camp out in Michigan, wrote that he was as busy 
as ever. He said I might come on if I couldn’t find 
anything to do here.’’ 

“ Why don’t you go ? ” 


26 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


Owen drew down the corners of his mouth into a 
peculiar pucker. 

“ You wouldn’t ask that if you knew my Uncle 
Jack,” he said. 

“ Anything wrong? ” 

“ Uncle Jack is a worker — morning, noon, and 
night, and between times. He never knows when to 
stop, and he expects everybody around him to work 
just as hard or harder. Fact is, he’s a regular slave 
driver. And in addition to that he’s as close-fisted 
as Hen McNair.” 

“ In that case, I don’t wonder you don’t want to 
engage with him,” said Dale, with a laugh. 

“ Uncle Jack means well, but he never knows when 
to let up. I’ve heard my mother say that more than 
once. He was her step-brother. He started as a 
poor man, and when he went to Michigan he had 
less than a thousand dollars. Now he must be worth 
thirty or forty thousand, and maybe more.” 

“ I don’t believe you’ll be worth that, Owen ; not 
if you have to save it yourself.” 

“ I don’t want to be rich if I’ve got to slave like 
Uncle Jack. Money isn’t everything in this world.” 

“ But you ought to save something. Supposing 
you got sick, or something else happened to you ? ” 

“ Well, I’m going to start to save a little, some 
time.” 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN AT HOME 27 

f ‘ The best time to start is now. Some time gen- 
erally means no time. You can put away as much 
as I put away, if you try.” 

“ All right, I’ll do it — next week.” 

“ No, this week,” and Dale smiled good-hu- 
moredly. 

“ Gracious, Dale ! are you becoming my guar- 
dian?” 

“ Not at all, Owen. But I want to see you begin.” 

“ I can’t spare the money this week. I’ve got to 
have some new strings for the banjo, and hair for 
the fiddle bow, and have these boots mended, and 
pay my board, and buy some shirts, and ” 

“ Not all this week. That fiddle bow will last a 
week or two yet, and so will your shirts. Now here 
is this cigar box I’ve been using for a bank. I 
cleaned it out paying off Hen McNair, but I am 
going to start a new account. When I put in a dollar 
you put in a dollar, and when you put in a dollar I’ll 
do the same. Then, when we want our money, we 
can whack up.” 

“ How much are you putting in to start on ? ” 

“ Two dollars.” 

Owen gave something like a groan. 

“ All right, if I must, I must,” he said, bringing 
out his week’s wages. “ But it’s worse than having 
a tooth pulled.” 


28 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ It won’t be after you get in the habit of it.” 

“ I don’t believe I could get in the habit of having 
my teeth pulled.” 

“ You know what I mean. After a while it will 
become just as easy to save money as to spend it — 
that is, a fair proportion of what you earn.” 

“ Want me to become as close as my Uncle Jack ? ” 

“ I guess there is small danger of that.” Dale 
reached for his harmonica, which rested on a shelf. 
“ Now strike up on the fiddle, and then you’ll forget 
all about the hardships of saving.” 

This was a sure way of pleasing Owen, and soon 
he had the violin from its peg on the wall and was 
tuning up. Then the pair began to play, one 
familiar tune after another, and thus the evening 
ended pleasantly enough. 


CHAPTER IV 


A FRESH START 

•The shut-down at Odell’s came sooner than an- 
ticipated. The mill owner had been almost positive 
about another consignment of logs, but at the last 
minute one of the pulp mills drove up the price on 
the timber and the logs went elsewhere. 

“ It’s no use,” said Peter Odell, to his men. “ I’ve 
got to shut down until next spring. During the 
winter I’ll make cast-iron contracts for the next sup- 
ply of timber, so there won’t be any further trip-ups, 
pulp mills or no pulp mills. It’s going to cost me 
money to quit, but, as you can see, I’m helpless in the 
matter.” 

To this the men said but little. A few of them felt 
that Odell was to blame just as John Larson was to 
blame — because he had not made “ cast-iron ” con- 
tracts before. But these mill owners were of the old- 
fashioned sort, easy-going and willing to take mat- 
ters largely as they came. 

“ The pulp mills have the upper hand of the busi- 
ness,” said Owen to Dale. “ They’ll take anything 
that is cut down, and that gives them the advantage. 


29 


30 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


Now it wouldn’t pay Odell, or Larson either, to 
handle logs less than fourteen inches in diameter.” 

“ But the loggers are foolish to cut small stuff,” 
answered Dale. “ They don’t give the trees a chance 
to grow, and before long there won’t be a tree left 
to cut.” 

“ The most of ’em think only of the money to be 
had right now ; not what they might get later on. If 
I had my way I’d pass a law making it a crime to cut 
down small trees.” 

There were but few other sawmills in that vicin- 
ity, and each of these was working only three-quar- 
ters or half time. Water being low, power was 
scarce, and the general condition was certainly dis- 
heartening. 

The two young lumbermen spent an entire week in 
seeking other employment, but without success. The 
only place offered was one to Owen at a pulp mill, 
tending a row of vats, but the pay was so small he 
declined it. 

“ I hate a pulp mill anyhow,” he declared. “ Now 
that winter is coming on, I’d rather try my luck 
up the river at one of the big camps.” 

“ Exactly my idea ! ” cried Dale. “ Say the word, 
and I’ll start with you Monday morning. I’m sure 
we can find something to do up on the West Branch, 
or along one of the lakes.” 


A FRESH START 


3 


“ The trouble is, how are we to get up on the West 
Branch ? ” came from Owen. “ I haven’t any desire 
to tramp the distance.” 

“We can take the railroad train up to the lake,” 
answered Dale, after a moment’s thought. “ I know 
Phil Bailey, who runs on the night freight. He’ll 
give us a lift that far, I am sure. After we get to 
the lake we can try for a job on one of the boats 
going up the river.” 

This was satisfactory to Owen, and the pair made 
preparations to leave Odell’s on Monday at noon. 
In the meantime Dale penned a letter to John Larson, 
stating that he had not forgotten about the missing- 
horse, and, if the animal did not turn up, he would 
some day settle for him. 

“ It’s the best that I can do,” he said. “ He was 
worth at least one hundred and fifty dollars, and 
it will take me a good long while to save up that 
amount.” 

The nearest railroad station on the Bangor and 
Aroostook Railroad was a small place called Hem- 
way. Plere a passenger train stopped twice a day 
and a mixed freight did the same. Phil Bailey lived 
at Hemway, so it was not difficult for Dale to find the 
brakeman. 

“ Yes, I’ll take you along,” said Bailey, “ and glad 
to give you a lift. Carsons is sick, so I’m in charge 


32 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

this week. I’ll look for you at the freight switch 
when the train comes along.” 

As a consequence that night found Dale and Owen 
housed in the caboose of the freight train, bumping 
along at the rate of twenty miles an hour in the di- 
rection of the lake. It was not very comfortable 
riding, and the stops and delays were frequent, but 
as Owen said, “ it beat walking all hollow,” and as 
it cost them nothing they were well content. 

“ I don’t know that this beating the railroad out of 
a fare is just right,” observed Dale, as they rode 
along. “ But I guess such a corporation won’t miss 
our few dollars.” 

“ They’ll make the summer tourists foot the bill,” 
said Owen, with a grin. “ Did you notice how 
crowded the train going south was ? ” 

“ I did. The cold snap last week is causing them 
to scatter. In a few weeks more they’ll be flying 
home fast, and leaving everything to us lumbermen.” 

“ And to the hunters.” 

It was early in the morning and still dark when 
the lake was reached. Thanking Phil Bailey for his 
kindness they crawled from the caboose just before 
the freight switch was gained and made their way 
down to one of the lumber yards along the shore. 
Here they found a comfortable corner in a shanty 
and slept until daybreak. 


A FRESH START 


33 


Lakeport, as the settlement was called, was di- 
vided into two parts, the bluff, where the fine cot- 
tages and the Lake View Hotel were located, and 
the lower end, where were situated several lumber 
yards and a number of lumbermen’s cabins and two 
general stores. 

Down at the lumber yards everything was quiet, 
for the booms from the former winter’s cuttings had 
long since been distributed to.the mills far below, and 
scarcely anything would^ be received until the spring 
“ yarding ” began. Only a few men were around, 
and the majority of these were either preparing to go 
up into the timber to work or else to act as guides 
and cooks to the sportsmen who would soon put in 
an appearance for a winter’s hunt after moose and 
other game. 

Each of the young lumbermen wore the typical 
costume of the woodsmen of that locality, so neither 
attracted special attention when they walked into 
one of the general stores. The wife of the store- 
keeper took boarders and she readily consented to 
serve them with breakfast and as many other meals 
as they wanted and were willing to pay for. The 
ride had made them tremendously hungry and they 
ate all that was set before them with keen relish. 

“ Going up among the loggers, eh ? ” said the 
storekeeper, when they were settling their bill. 


34 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ Well, I reckon as how it’s going to be a mighty 
good year — logs is wanted the wust way, not only 
fer the sawmills an’ pulp mills, but also fer ex- 
port.” 

“ Right you are, Sanson,” put in another man who 
was present. “ I heard from a deputy surveyor at 
Bangor that we cut over 1 50,000,000 feet o’ pine and 
spruce last year and they expect to cut even more 
this year. Twelve million feet was exported to 
England — an' we got a rousin' good price fer it, 
too.” 

“ Yes, but times aint as good as they was,” came 
from the storekeeper. “ 1899 was the banner year 
fer lumber here. The cut was 183,000,000 feet, 
an’ not only thet, but spruce thet had been sellin' 
fer $14 and $18 a thousand sold down to Boston 
fer $20 and $24. Times aint what they was.” And 
the storekeeper heaved a long sigh. 

At the side door of the general store a clerk was 
loading a wagon with various provisions, beans, po- 
tatoes, salt fish, flour, a sack of coffee, and the like. 
Dale watched him for a few seconds and then ac- 
costed him. 

“ Loading up for one of the hotels ? ” he ques- 
tioned pleasantly. 

“ No, this load is going up the river,” was the 
answer. 



“ Want a job, eh ?” — 


Pcuje 35. 














































































A FRESH START 35 

“ May I ask who is going to take it and where it 
is bound ? ” 

“It’s going up to the Paxton camp. Old Joel 
Winthrop and a couple of other men are going to 
take it up. Paxton is going to start in early this fall, 
so we’re rushing the stuff up to him.” 

“ How many hands does he employ ? ” 

“ About a hundred or more. Want a job? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Then you’d better see Winthrop about it. He’s 
looking for likely men.” 

“Where can I find him?” 

“ Down to the lake. He’s got a bateau he calls 
the Lily — name is daubed on the stern. You can’t 
miss him.” 

“ Thanks ; we’ll try him,” answered Dale, and set 
off, followed by Owen. 

It was not a difficult task to locate Joel Winthrop, 
an aged woodsman, with whitish hair and beard, 
and shrewd gray eyes. He had been patching up a 
leak in his clumsy craft, and he listened to Dale’s 
application while holding a pitch pot in one hand 
and a brush in the other. 

“ Want a job, eh? ” he said, looking them over. 
“ What can you do ? ” 

“ Almost anything but cook,” answered Owen. 
“ Might do that, but I shouldn’t care to risk it.” 


36 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ Guess you wouldn’t — not up to our camp,” 
laughed Joel Winthrop. “ Had a cook last year who 
burnt the beans an’ they tuk him down to the river, 
chopped a hole in the ice, an’ soused him under three 
times. He never burnt a bean after thet, so long as 
he stayed.” 

“ We’d like to go as choppers or swampers,” said 
Dale. A chopper is one who fells trees, while a 
swamper is one who cuts down brushwood and 
makes a road from the forest to where the logs are 
piled for shipment in the spring. 

“ An’ what wages are you expectin’ ? ” 

“ Regular wages,” said Dale boldly. “We ex- 
pect to do regular men’s work.” 

“ Got a recommend ? ” 

“ Several of them,” and Dale handed over the let- 
ters he had received from Larson, Odell, and his 
other employers. Owen also exhibited several rec- 
ommendations he possessed. 

“ I see ye don’t drink,” said Joel Winthrop. 
“ Glad to hear o’ that. Drink is the curse of a lum- 
ber camp, you know that well as I do. The question 
is, can ye both stand the work fer a whole season ? ” 

“ If we can’t you’ll not have to keep us,” an- 
swered Owen. 

“ Ours is a mighty cold camp, I can tell ye 
that.” 


A FRESH START 37 

“We are used to roughing it,” said Dale. “ I was 
brought up that way from a baby.” 

“ We aint payin’ young fellows like you more’n 
twenty dollars a month an’ found.” 

“ How many months work ? ” asked Owen. 

“ Six months, an’ maybe seven or eight.” 

“ I’ll accept,” said Owen. 

“ So will I,” said Dale. 

The old lumberman then said he knew John Lar- 
son fairly well and that a recommendation from 
such a person must be all right. 

“ We’re going to start up the lake this afternoon,” 
said he. “ So if ye mean business be on hand at 
two o’clock sharp. I’ll give ye free passage, an’ 
you help work the boat and carry stuff around the 
falls.” 

By this time the provisions from the store were 
arriving, and both set to work to assist Joel Winthrop 
in stowing them away. Then, having nothing else 
to do, the two young lumbermen strolled around the 
settlement, past the big hotel and back by way of the 
freight yard. 

As they were passing the latter place, the down 
freight came in, stopped to take on two cars piled 
with lumber, and then started on its way again. As 
it moved off a man ran from the freight yard and 
leaped on board of the last car. 


38 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ Well, I declare! ” gasped Dale. “ Did you see 
that fellow ? ” 

“ Who ? ” questioned Owen, with interest. 

“ The fellow who jumped on the last car.” Dale 
pointed to the fast-vanishing figure. “ As sure as I 
stand here it was Baptiste Ducrot ! ” 


CHAPTER V 


SOMETHING ABOUT THE MAINE LUMBER TRADE 

Owen was as amazed as Dale to think that the man 
who had leaped on the disappearing freight train 
was the French-Canadian who had caused the latter 
so much trouble. 

'‘Well, he’s gone,” said he, after a moment’s 
pause. “ It’s a pity you didn’t spot him before the 
train started.” 

“ He didn’t show himself, Owen.” Dale drew a 
long breath. “ Do you know what I think ? I think 
he was hanging around this town, when he saw us 
and made up his mind that he had better get out.” 

They made a number of inquiries and soon learned 
that Ducrot had been in Lakeport two days. He had 
applied to Joel Winthrop and several other lumber- 
men for a position, but had smelt so strongly of 
liquor that nobody had cared to engage him. From 
general indications all the lumbermen doubted if 
the fellow had much money in his possession. 

“ I’ll wager he sold the horse and drank up the 
best part of the proceeds,” said Dale. “ It’s a rank 
shame, too ! I’ll have to save a long time to square 


39 


40 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


up with Mr. Larson. I’d give a week’s wages if 
I could have Ducrot arrested.” 

“ You might telegraph to the next station, Dale.” 

“ So I might ! ” Dale’s face brightened a little, 
then fell again. “ But I guess I won’t. It will cost 
extra money, and I’ll have to go and identify him, 
and stay around when he is tried, and all that. No, 
I’ll watch my chance to catch him some time when 
it is more convenient.” 

Promptly at the time appointed by old Joel Win- 
throp the journey up the lake was begun. Counting 
Dale and Owen there were five lumbermen on the 
Lily , which was a craft ten feet wide by about twenty 
feet long. The Lily was to be towed along by a 
small tug which did all sorts of odd jobs around the 
lake. The bateau was piled high with the provisions 
and with the boxes and valises belonging to the 
lumbermen, not forgetting the case that contained 
Owen’s precious violin and the green bag with the 
banjo. 

“ I see you’re a player,” said Joel Winthrop. “ I 
used to scratch a fiddle myself years ago. You’ll 
have to give us some music goin’ up.” And Owen 
did, much to the satisfaction of all on board. 

The distance to the Paxton lumber camp was over 
a hundred and fifteen miles, and it took five days to 
cover the journey. At the end of the lake the goods 


THE MAINE LUMBER TRADE 41 

had to be portaged up to the river, and then had to 
be portaged around the falls beyond. On the 
West Branch and the side stream on which the camp 
was located the bateau had to be poled along, and 
owing to the low water often caught on the mud or 
the rocks. But nobody minded the work, and as the 
weather was cool and dry the journey passed off 
pleasantly enough. 

The two strange lumbermen were from Bangor 
and were named Gilroy and Andrews. They were 
experienced hands, and Gilroy was an under boss at 
the camp, having charge of the North-Section Gang, 
as it was called. All the older men loved to talk 
about lumbering in general and old times in Maine 
in particular, and Dale and Owen listened to the con- 
versation with interest. 

“ Got to go putty far back for lumber now,” said 
Joel Winthrop. “All the good stuff nigh to the 
river has been cut away.” 

“ Tve heard my grandfather tell of the times when 
they cut good logs less than ten miles from Bangor,” 
put in Gilroy. “ I reckon they didn’t think what an 
industry lumbering would become in these days.” 

“ I suppose they cut nothing but pine in those 
days,” said Dale. 

“ Nothing but pine, lad ; spruce wasn’t looked at.” 

“ Yes ? and pine was the great thing even up to the 


42 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

Civil War/’ said Joel Winthrop. “ But that was the 
last of it, and a couple of years after the war ended 
spruce came to the front, and now, as you perhaps 
know, we cut five times as much spruce as we do 
anything else.” 

“ I’ve often wondered how many men worked in 
Maine at lumbering,” said Owen. “ There must be 
a small army of us, all told.” 

“ I heard that last year more than fourteen thou- 
sand men were in the woods,” came from Andrews. 
“ The total number of feet of all kinds of lumber cut 
was over half a billion.” 

“ What a stack of logs ! ” cried Dale. 

“ No wonder we have a pine tree on the coat of 
arms of the State,” added Owen. “ But it ought to 
be a spruce tree now instead of a pine,” he continued. 

“ I can remember the day when the lumber camps 
claimed the very best of our people,” said Joel Win- 
throp. “ Folks wasn’t stuck up in them days, and 
many of the richest men in Bangor and Portland 
earned their first dollar choppin’ down pine trees. 
But now we’ve got all sorts in the camps, an’ have to 
take ’em or git nobody. Not but what we’ve got 
good men at our camp,” he added hastily. 

“ I wouldn’t mind a job as a lumber surveyor,” 
said Dale. “ They get good wages, don’t they ? ” 

“ A deputy surveyor gets ten cents a thousand on 


THE MAINE LUMBER TRADE 


43 


all the lumber he checks off,” answered Gilroy. 
“ I’ve known a man to make six to ten dollars a day 
at it. The fellows who overhaul the lumber for him 
get seven and a half cents a thousand each. The 
surveyor-general of the county gets a cent a thou- 
sand on all lumber passed on in the county.” 

“ Some day I reckon I’ll be a surveyor-general,” 
observed Owen dryly. 

“ Td rather own a rich lumber tract,” returned 
Dale. “ I’d work it systematically, cutting nothing 
but big trees and planting a new tree for every old 
one cut. By that means I’d make the tract bring 
me in a regular income.” 

“ That’s the way to talk,” came from Joel Win- 
throp. “ And unless the owners do something like 
that putty soon Maine won’t be in the lumber busi- 
ness no more.” 

“ They tell me that the big pulp mill near here can 
use up 50,000,000 feet of lumber in a year,” went on 
Dale. 

“ It’s true,” said Gilroy. “ They’ll chew up logs 
almost as fast as you can raft ’em along. What 
we are coming to if the pulp mills and paper makers 
keep on crowding us for logs, I don’t know.” 

It was night when they reached the landing place 
nearest to the Paxton camp, which was located up 
the hillside, half a mile away. At this point the 


44 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


stream opened up into something of a pond, with a 
cove in which several small boats were moored. 

The shores of the pond were rocky and covered in 
spots with a stunted undergrowth, while further 
back was the forest of spruce, pine, fir, and a few 
other trees, sending forth a delicious fragrance that 
was as invigorating as it was delightful. As the 
bateau grounded, Dale leaped ashore, stretched him- 
self and took a long, deep breath, filling his lungs to 
their utmost capacity. 

“ This is what I like ! ” he cried. “ It’s better 
than a tonic or any other medicine. ,, 

“ And what an appetite it will give a fellow,” 
added Owen. “ I can always eat like a horse when 
I’m in the woods working.” 

As it was a clear night, the bateau was hauled up 
on the shore and the provisions carefully covered 
with a thick tarpaulin. Then the party struck out up 
the hillside for the camp, Joel Winthrop leading the 
way. 

The trail was a rough one, for this camp was new, 
being located nearly a mile from the one of the sea- 
son before, the loggers moving from place to place 
according to the cutting to be done. More than once 
they had to climb over the rough rocks with care, 
and once Owen slipped into a hollow and gave his 
leg a twist that was far from agreeable. The ground 


THE MAINE LUMBER TRADE 


45 


lay thick with needles, cones, and dead leaves, and 
here and there a fallen tree brought down by storm 
or old age. 

The young lumbermen had already been informed 
that the camp was a new one, so they were not sur- 
prised when they learned that so far only a cook’s 
shanty had been erected and that the men assembled 
were sleeping in little shacks and tents or in the open. 
When they arrived they found but two men awake, 
the others having retired almost immediately after 
supper. 

Joel Winthrop had his own shack, a primitive af- 
fair, made by leaning a number of poles against a 
rocky cliff eight or ten feet high. Over the poles 
were placed a number of pine boughs, and boughs 
were also placed on the floor of the structure, for 
bedding purposes. 

“ Come right in and make yourselves at home,” 
he said cheerily, after lighting a camp lantern and 
hanging it on a notch of one of the poles. “ Nothing 
more to do to-night, so we might as well go to 
sleep.” 

“ The boys can sleep with you ; I’ll stay outside 
where I can get the fresh air,” said Gilroy, and 
wrapping himself in a blanket he went to rest at the 
foot of a neighboring tree, with Andrews beside 
him. 


46 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


A youth not used to roughing it might have found 
the flooring of the shack rather a hard bed. But 
Dale and Owen thought nothing of this. The last 
day on the river had been a busy one, and soon each 
was in the land of dreams, neither of them being 
disturbed in the slightest by the loud snoring around 
them — for lumbermen in camp do snore, and that 
most outrageously — why, nobody can tell, excepting 
it may be as a warning to wild beasts to keep away ! 

The next morning the sun came up as brightly as 
ever. Long before that time the camp was astir, 
and from the cook's shanty floated the aroma of 
broiled mackerel, fried potatoes, and coffee. 

“That smells like home!” exclaimed Owen and 
started for a spring near by, where there was a small 
tub, in which the men washed, one after another. 

A table of rough deal boards had been erected 
under the trees, with a long bench on either side. 
There was no tablecloth, but the table was as clean 
as water and soap could make it. Each man was 
provided with a tin cup, a tin plate, a knife, a fork, 
and a spoon, and each was served his portion by the 
cook or the cook’s assistant. If the man wanted 
more he usually rapped on his empty cup or plate 
until he was supplied. 

The cook was a burly negro named Jeff, his full 
name being Jefferson Jackson. Jeff was usually 


THE MAINE LUMBER TRADE 


47 


good-natured, but when the men hurried him too 
much for their victuals he would often growl back 
at them. 

“ Fo’ de Ian’ sake!” he would bellow. “Say, 
can’t you gib dis chile no chance ’tall? Yo’ lobsters 
dun got no bottom to yo’ stummicks. T’ink I’se 
heah to fill up de hull ob de ’Nobscot Ribber? Yo’ 
dun eat like yo’ been starvin’ all summah.” 

“ Jeff wants to turn us into skeletons,” cried one 
of the young lumbermen, winking at the others. 
“ He’s got a contract to furnish a Boston museum 
with ’em.” 

“ Skellertons, am it? ” exploded Jeff. “ Wot yo’ 
is gwine to do is to hire out to ’em fer a fat man — 
if yo’ kin git filled up yere. But Mastah Paxton aint 
raisin’ no fat men fo’ no museums ’round dis camp, 
so yo’ jest dun hole yo’ hosses till I gits ’round dar a 
fo’th time.” 

And then the men would have to wait, until each 
had had his fill, when he would scramble from his 
seat with scant ceremony and prepare for the day’s 
work. 


s 


CHAPTER VI 


DEEP IN THE WOODS 

Before the morning meal was over Dale and Owen 
became acquainted with ten or a dozen of the lum- 
bermen, all rough-and-ready fellows, but above the 
average of the lumber camps in manner and speech. 

“ I’m glad we didn’t strike a tough crowd,” said 
Dale, remembering a lumber camp he had once vis- 
ited, in which drinking was in evidence all day long 
and the talk was tilled with profanity. 

“ So am I,” answered Owen. “ But I knew this 
camp was O. K. from the way Winthrop talked.” 

Luke Paxton, the owner of the camp, was away, 
but he came in during the forenoon and had a talk 
with each of the new hands. He was of a similar 
turn to Winthrop, and asked Dale and Owen a num- 
ber of short questions, all of which they answered 
promptly. 

“ I guess I knew your father,” he said to Owen. 
“ I used to have an interest in a lumber yard in Port- 
land. He was a good man.” And then he turned 
away to give directions for putting up two additional 
shanties in the camp and a log cabin, which would 


DEEP IN THE WOODS 49 

become the general home of the lumbermen when 
cold weather set in. 

That afternoon found Dale and Owen at work 
close to the camp, helping to cut the timbers for the 
new cabin. Joel Winthrop watched them as each 
brought down the first tree. “ That’s all right,” he 
said, and then gave them directions for continuing 
their labors. 

The men in the camp were divided into gangs of 
twenty to thirty persons, consisting of choppers or 
fellers, swampers, drivers or haulers, and a boss who 
watched the work, picking out the trees to be cut 
and directing just how they should be made to fall, 
so that they could be gotten away with the least 
trouble. Later in the season there would be sled 
drivers and tenders, or loaders, and also a man to 
bring out the midday meal when the gang was too 
far into the woods to come to camp to eat. 

The building of the big cabin was no mean task, 
and it took one gang three weeks to do it. It was 
built of rough logs, notched and set together at the 
ends. There was a heavy ridge-pole, with a sloping 
roof of logs on either side, and the floor was also 
of logs, slightly smoothed on the upper side. 

When the cabin proper was complete it was divided 
into two parts, each containing a window, and one a 
door in addition. One end was the sleeping room, 


50 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


with bunks built of rough boards, each bunk four feet 
wide and twelve feet long. Each bottom bunk had 
another over it, and each was meant for four sleepers, 
a pair at each end, with feet all together. The bunks 
had clean pine boughs in them, and a pair of regular 
camp blankets for each occupant. 

The second apartment was that devoted to eating 
and general living purposes. The door was close to 
the cook’s shanty, but when the weather grew colder 
the big cooking stove would be placed directly in the 
middle of the living room, to add its warmth to the 
comfort of the place. The stove was of course a 
wood burner, a square affair capable of taking in a 
log a yard long. For a dining table the deal table 
from outside was brought in, with its benches, and 
half a dozen empty provision boxes were also 
brought in for extra seats. To keep out the cold the 
cracks of the entire building were stuffed with mud, 
and on the inside certain parts were covered with 
heavy roofing paper and strips of bark. 

“ Now we are ready for cold weather,” said Owen, 
when the cabin was finished and the most of the 
men of their gang had moved in. He and Dale had 
a small corner bunk which held but two, and in this 
they were “ as snug as a bug in a rug,” as the 
younger of the lumbermen declared. 

The last of the choppers had now arrived, and it 


DEEP IN THE WOODS 


51 


was found necessary to put up another cabin for 
them. Dale and Owen, however, did not work on 
this, but instead spent every day in the depths of the 
great forest, bringing down one tree after another, as 
Gilroy, who now had charge of the gang, directed. 
Each of the young lumbermen proved that he could 
swing an ax with the best of the workers, and Gilroy 
pronounced himself satisfied with all they did. 

“ It only shows what a young fellow can do when 
he's put to it,” said the foreman one day to Owen. 
“ Now, half these chaps are merely working for their 
wages and their grub. They do as little as they can 
for their money, and the minute the season is over 
they’ll go down to Oldtown or Bangor, or some 
other city, and blow in every dollar they have 
earned.” 

“ But this camp is better than lots of others.” 

“ Yes, I know that. It’s because old Winthrop 
and Mr. Paxton sort out the men they engage. 
They won’t take every tramp who strikes them for a 
job.” 

The men often worked in sets of fours, and when 
this happened Dale and Owen’s usual companions! 
were Andrews and a short, stout French-Canadian 
named Jean Colette. Colette was good-natured to 
the last degree and full of fun in the bargain. 

“ Vat is de use to cry ven de t’ing go wrong,” he 


52 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

would say. “ My fadder he say you mils' laugh 
at eferyt’ing, oui! I laugh an' I no geet seek, nef- 
fair ! I like de people to laugh, an' sing, an' dance. 
Dat ees best, oui! 

“ You’re right on that score,” said Owen. “ But 
some folks would rather grumble than, laugh any 
day.” 

“ Dat is de truf. Bon ! you play de feedle, de 
banyo; he play de mout’ harmonee an’ sing, an’ yo’ 
are happy, oui? I like dat. No bad man sing an’ 
play, neffair ! ” And the little man bobbed his head 
vigorously. 

“ What a difference between a man like Colette 
and that Ducrot ! ” said Dale to Owen, later on. 
“ Yet they come from the same place in Canada, so 
I’ve heard.” 

“ W ell, there are good men and bad in every town 
in Maine,” answered Owen sagely. “ Locality has 
nothing to do with it.” 

The fact that Dale and Owen could play and sing 
was a source of pleasure to many in the camp, and the 
pair were often asked to “ tune up,” as the lum- 
bermen expressed it. There was also another violin 
player at hand, and many of the men could sing, in 
their rough, unconventional way, so amusement was 
not lacking during the cold winter evenings. More 
than once the men would get up a dance, jigs and 


DEEP IN THE WOODS 


53 


reels being the favorite numbers, with a genuine 
break-down from Jeff, the cook, that no one could 
match. 

Winter came on early, as it usually does in this 
section of our country, and by the end of October 
the snow lay deep among the trees of the forest, 
while the pond and the river presented a surface of 
unbroken ice, swept clear in spots by the wind. For 
many days the wind howled and tore through the 
tall trees, and banked up the snow on one side of the 
cabin to the roof. The thermometer went down 
rapidly, and everybody was glad enough to hug the 
stove when not working. 

“ This winter is going to be a corker, mark my 
words,” observed Owen. 

“ I know that,” answered Dale. “ I found a squir- 
rel’s nest yesterday and it was simply loaded with 
nuts. That squirrel was laying up for a long spell 
of cold.” 

Yet the lumbermen did not dress as warmly when 
working as one might suppose. A heavy woolen 
shirt, heavy trousers, strong boots, and a thick cap 
was the simple outfit of more than one, and even 
Dale and Owen rarely wore their coats. 

“ Swinging an ax warms me, no matter how low 
the glass is,” said Owen. u And I haven’t got to 
pile any liquor in me either.” 


54 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


Often, while deep in the woods, the two young 
lumbermen would catch sight of a wolf or a fox, at- 
tracted to the neighborhood by the smell of the 
camp cooking. But though the beasts were hungry 
they knew enough to keep their distance. 

“ But I don’t like them so close to me,” said Owen. 
“ After this I’m going to take my gun to work with 
me,” and he did, and Dale took with him a double- 
barreled pistol left to him by his father. Some of 
the others also went armed, and one man brought in 
a small deer from up the river, which gave all hands 
on the following Sunday a dinner of venison — quite 
a relief from the rather wearisome pork and beans, 
or corned beef, cabbage, and onions. 

“ To bring down a deer would just suit me,” said 
Dale. 

“ Just wait, your chance may come yet,” answered 
Owen, but he never dreamed of what was really in 
store for them. 

It was a bitter-cold day in November that found 
the pair working on something of a ridge, where 
stood a dozen or more pines of extra-large growth. 
Each worked at a tree by himself, while Andrews 
and Jean Colette were some distance away, working 
in the spruces. 

“ Hark ! ” cried Dale presently. “ Did you hear 
that?” 


BEEP IN THE WOODS 


55 

“ It was a gun shot, wasn’t it? ” questioned Owen, 
as he stopped chopping. 

“Yes. There goes another shot. Do you sup- 
pose one of the men are after another deer ? ” 

“ Either that, or else there are some hunters on the 
mountain. If they are hunters I hope they don’t 
shoot this way.” 

“ So do I, Owen. Only last year a hunter up here 
took one of the choppers for a wild animal and put a 
ball through his shoulder.” 

“ If they shoot this way and I see them I’ll give 
’em a piece of my mind. They ought to be careful. 
A fellow Hark!” 

Both listened and from a distance made out a 
strange crashing through the underbrush of the 
forest. Then came a thud and more crashing. 

“ It’s a wild animal, coming this way ! ” sang out 
Dale. “ Better get your gun.” 

“ Perhaps it’s a bear! ” ejaculated Owen, and lost 
no time in dropping his ax and picking up his gun. 

The crashing now ceased for a moment, and the 
only sound that reached their ears was the moaning 
of the wind through the treetops far overhead. The 
wind was blowing up the hillside, so that the wild 
beast, if such it really was, could not scent them. 

Another shot rang out, from the same direction 
as the first. This appeared to rouse up whatever 


56 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

was in the wood, and the crashing was resumed with 
increasing vigor. 

“ It’s coming, whatever it is ! ” sang out Dale, and 
pointed out the direction with his hand. 

Hardly had the words left his lips when the under- 
brush and snow beyond the ridge were pushed aside 
and into the opening staggered a magnificent moose, 
with wide-spreading antlers and wild, terror-struck 
eyes. The game limped because of a wound in the 
left flank, and there was another wound in the side, 
from which the blood was flowing freely. 

“ A moose ! ” shouted Owen, and raising his gun 
he took hasty aim and fired at the beast. 

Now, although Owen was a good woodsman, he 
was only a fair shot, and the charge in the gun merely 
grazed the moose’s back. It caused the animal to 
give an added snort of pain. It stopped short for an 
instant, then its eyes lighted on Dale, and with an- 
other snort it leaped forward with lowered antlers 
directly for the young lumberman ! 

Bang ! went Dale’s pistol, and the bullet struck the 
moose in the forehead. But the rush of the animal 
was not lessened, and in a twinkling the youth was 
struck and hurled over the ridge into the gully below, 
and the moose disappeared after him ! 


CHAPTER VII 


THE DANGERS OF LOG-ROLLING 

The attack by this monarch of the Maine forest 
had been so sudden that Dale had no time in which 
to leap out of the way or do anything further to de- 
fend himself. Down he went, into a mass of rough 
rocks and brushwood, and the moose came almost on 
top of him. 

With bated breath, Owen saw youth and beast 
disappear. His heart leaped into his throat, for he 
felt that his chum must surely be killed. Then he 
gave a yell that speedily brought Andrews and 
Colette to the scene. 

“ What is it ? ” demanded Andrews. 

“ A wounded moose ! He just knocked Dale over 
the bluff.” 

“ Ees he killed ? ” screamed Colette. 

“ I hope not. Come, help me.” 

Owen had now recovered somewhat from his 
first scare and he picked up his ax. Running to 
the: edge of the ridge he looked over, and saw the 
moose as the beast struggled to get up on the top 
of the rocks below. 


57 


58 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


In the meantime Dale was not idle. Fortunately 
his fall was not a serious one, for he landed in a mass 
of thick brushwood, thus saving himself one or more 
broken bones. From this point he slipped into a hol- 
low and the next instant felt the side of the moose 
pressing him on the shoulder. 

The animal was suffering from loss of blood, and 
its efforts to regain its feet were wild and ineffectual. 
The sharp hoofs worked convulsively and one, catch- 
ing Dale on the shoulder, cut a gash several inches 
long. Then the moose rolled in one direction, and 
the young lumberman lost no time in rolling in an- 
other. 

It was at this point in the conflict that Owen came 
down to Dale’s assistance, leaping from the bluff 
above, ax in hand. After him came Andrews and 
Colette, the latter armed with both his ax and an 
old French fowling-piece. 

“ Hit him, Owen ! ” panted Dale. “ Hit him in 
the head ! ” 

“ I will — if I can,” was the answer, and Owen 
advanced swiftly but cautiously. 

“ Stop ! I shoot heem ! ” screamed Jean Colette, 
and raised his fowling-piece. Bang ! went the 
weapon, and the moose received a dose of bird-shot 
in his left flank, something which caused him to kick 
and struggle worse than ever. 


THE DANGERS OF LOG-ROLLING 


59 


Owen now saw his opportunity, and, bending for- 
ward, he dealt the moose a swift blow on the shoul- 
der. The beast struck back, but Owen leaped aside, 
and then the ax came down with renewed force. This 
time it hit the moose directly between the eyes. There 
was a cracking of bone and then a convulsive shud- 
der. To make sure of his work, the young lumber- 
man struck out once more, and then the game lay 
still. 

“ Yo — you've finished him," said Dale, after a 
pause. 

“ Yes, he’s dead," put in Andrews, as he gave the 
game a crack with his own ax, “ for luck," as he 
put it. 

“ Vat a magnificent creature! " exclaimed Colette. 
“Bon! Ve vill haf de fine dinnair now, oui?” 
And his eyes twinkled in anticipation. 

“ Did he hurt you ? ” asked Owen, turning from 
the game to his chum. 

“ He gave me a pretty bad dig with his hoof," was 
the reply. “ I guess I’ll have to have that bound up 
before I do anything else. He came kind of sudden, 
didn’t he? ’’ 

“ Those hunters up the mountain drove him down 
here. I suppose they’ll be after him soon." 

“Doesn’t he belong to us, Owen? You killed 
him." 


6o 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ That’s a question. They wounded him pretty 
badly — otherwise he would never have stumbled this 
way.” 

“ I’d claim the game,” came from Andrews. 
“ Somebody wounded him, it’s true, but they would 
never have gotten the moose.” 

Leaving Andrews and Colette to watch the game, 
Dale, accompanied by Owen, walked back to camp, 
where he had his wound washed and dressed. The 
cut was a clean one, for which the young lumberman 
was thankful. Some salve was put on it; and in 
the course of a couple of weeks the spot was almost 
as well as ever. 

The shots had been heard by a number of the 
other lumbermen, and a dozen gathered around 
and walked to the gully to look at the moose. It 
was certainly a fine creature, with a noble pair of 
antlers. 

“ If nobody comes to claim that carcass you’ve 
got somethin’ worth having,” was old Winthrop’s 
comment. “ But some hunter will be along soon, 
don’t ye worry.” 

Yet, strange to say, no one came to put in a claim, 
and a few hours later the moose was placed on a drag 
and taken to camp. All the men had a grand feast 
on the meat, and the antlers and pelt were sold at 
a fair price to a trader who happened to come that 


THE DANGERS OF LOG-ROLLING 6 1 

way. The total amount was put into the cigar box 
by Owen. 

“ For it belongs to Dale as much as myself/' said 
Owen. Jean Colette claimed nothing, for he knew 
that his bird-shot had had little effect on the moose. 

Dale was afraid that he would run behind the 
others in work because of his wound. But such 
was not the case, for the day after the encounter at 
the ridge it began to snow and blow at a furious 
rate, so that none of the loggers could go out. The 
time was spent mostly indoors or at the stables where 
the ten horses belonging to the camp were kept. The 
men were never very idle, for they had their own 
mending to do and often their own washing. The 
days, too, were short, and the majority of the hands 
retired to their bunks as soon as it grew dark. 

“ This weather will bring out the sleds/’ observed 
Owen. “ I guess Mr. Paxton will give orders to 
carry logs as soon as it clears off.” 

The camp boasted of four long, low double-runner 
sleds. These were driven by two Canadians and 
two Scotchmen, all expert at getting a load of logs 
over the uneven ground without spilling them. 
The horses were intelligent animals, used to logging, 
and would haul with all their might and main when 
required. 

Owen was right ; the sleds were brought out on the 


62 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


first clear day, and while the majority of the men 
continued to cut logs, some were set to work to make 
a road down to the pond and others were set at the 
task of loading the logs ready for transportation. 

Dale had already put in a week or two at swamp- 
ing, and now he and Andrews were detailed to fix 
a bit of the road that ran around a hilltop overlook- 
ing the stream far below. Near this spot was a long 
sweep of fairly even ground, sloping gradually to- 
ward the watercourse, and Joel Winthrop had an 
idea that many logs could be rolled to the bottom 
without the trouble of loading and chaining them on 
the sleds. 

“ Such a method will certainly save a lot of trou- 
ble/’ said Andrews, as he went out with Dale. 
“ But the men below want to stand from under when 
the logs come down.” 

The storm had given way to sunshine that made all 
the trees and bushes glisten as if burnished with sil- 
ver. From the hilltop an expanse of country, many 
miles in extent, could be surveyed — a prospect that 
never grew tiresome to Dale, for he was a true lover 
of nature, even though occupied in destroying a part 
of her primeval beauty. 

“ Just think of the days when this country was full 
of Indians,” he said to Andrews. “ It’s not so very 
many years ago.” 


THE DANGERS OF LOG-ROLLING 63 

“ Right you are ; times change very quickly. 
Why, the first sawmill wasn’t built on the Penobscot 
until 1818, and in those days Bangor was only a 
small town and many of the other places weren’t 
even dreamed of. The Indians had their own way 
in the backwoods, and they used to do lots of trad- 
ing with the white folks when they felt like it.” 

“ Yes, and fought the white folks when they didn’t 
feel like it,” laughed Dale. “ But then the red men 
weren’t treated just right either,” he added soberly. 

“ I can remember the time when these woods were 
simply alive with game of all sorts,” went on the 
older lumberman. “If you wanted a deer all you 
had to do was to lay low for him down by his drink- 
ing place. But now to get anything is by no means 
easy. That moose you and Webb got is a haul not 
to be duplicated.” 

The work at the hilltop progressed slowly, but at 
the end of two weeks all the small trees and brush- 
wood in the vicinity were cut down and disposed of, 
and then a road to the edge of the hill was leveled 
off and packed down. 

In the meantime one of the sleds had been at work 
among the trees cut down just back of the edge, and 
these trees were now piled up in several heaps. 

“ We’ll try some of the logs this afternoon,” said 
Gilroy, one Friday morning, and the trial was made 


64 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

directly after dinner. Four logs were pushed over 
the edge, one directly after the other, and down they 
went, with a speed that increased rapidly and sent 
the loose snow flying in all directions. At the bot- 
tom they struck several trees left standing for that 
purpose and came to a stop with thuds that could be 
heard a long distance off. 

“ Hurrah ! That beats sledding all to pieces ! ” 
cried Dale. “We can roll down a hundred logs 
while a sled is taking down a dozen.” 

“ We can roll down all we have up here to-mor- 
row,” said Gilroy. “And the sled can go to the 
cut below. The biggest logs are in the hollow and 
it will take every team we have to get ’em out.” 

Yarding had already begun at the edge of the 
pond, and Saturday found Owen at work among a 
number of small trees and thick brushwood which 
Mr. Paxton had ordered cut away, for the head lum- 
berman loved to see everything around his camp in 
what he termed “ apple-pie order.” This is nothing 
unusual among the better class of lumbermen in 
Maine,, and they often vie with each other as to which 
camp presents the best appearance and whose cut of 
logs foots up the cleanest. 

Among the logs at the hilltop was a giant tree, 
left standing for many years and now cut for a 
special purpose by old Joel Winthrop himself. A 


THE DANGERS OF LOG-ROLLING 65 

friend of his, an old sea captain, was building a 
schooner at Belfast, and Winthrop had promised him 
a mast that should stand any strain put on it. 

“ Aint no better stick nor thet in the whole State 
o' Maine,” said Joel Winthrop to Andrews and Dale. 
“ An' I want ye to be careful how ye roll it down 
the hill.” And they promised to be as careful as 
they could. 

It was no easy task to get the big log just where 
they wanted it, and it was Monday afternoon be- 
fore they were ready to let it start on its short but 
swift journey to the edge of the pond. During the 
day the sky had clouded over and now it looked 
snowy once more. 

“ I guess we are ready to bid her good-by,” ob- 
served Dale, as he looked the log over and measured 
the snowy slope with his eye. 

“ All ready ! ” sang out Andrews. “ Now then, 
up with your stick and let her drive ! ” 

Each was using a long pole as a lever, and each 
now pressed down. This started the log toward the 
edge, and in a second the stick began to slide down- 
ward, slowly at first and then faster and faster. 

“ Hullo ! hullo ! ” sang out a voice from far below. 
“ Don’t send any more logs down just yet! ” 

“ It’s Owen calling ! ” gasped Dale, his face grow- 
ing suddenly white. “ Owen, where are you? ” 


66 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ There he is ! ” came from Andrews, holding up 
his hands in horror. “ There, right in the way of 
that log ! ” He raised his voice into a shriek. 
“Run for your life! Run, or you’ll be smashed 
into a jelly! ” 


CHAPTER VIII 


CHRISTMAS, AND AN UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL- 

Owen heard the shriek, and although he did not 
understand the exact words uttered, he realized that 
it was meant for a warning. 

He was about fifty feet up the side of the hill, ax 
in hand, preparing to cut down a bunch of saplings 
which, so far, had not been touched. The saplings 
had been knocked over by the other logs sent down, 
but the young lumberman thought it would be better 
if they were out of the way altogether. 

Standing on something of a knob he looked up 
and saw the log coming down upon him, rolling and 
sliding with ever-increasing rapidity. That it was 
coming directly for him there could be no question, 
and for the moment his heart seemed to stop beam- 
ing and a great cold chill crept up and down his 
backbone, while he had a mental vision of being 
crushed into a shapeless by that ponderous 
weight. 

“ Jump ! ” screamed Dale. “ Jump, for the love 
of Heaven, Owen ! ” 

And then Owen jumped, far from the knob to the 

67 


68 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

portion of the slide below him. It was a flying leap 
of over a rod, and when he landed he struck partly 
on his feet and partly on his left hand. Then from 
this crouched-up position he took another leap, very 
much as might a huge frog, and landing this time on 
his side, rolled over and over to the bottom of the 
slide. 

The log was following swiftly and the swish of 
the flying snow and ice reached his ears plainly. It 
had scraped a bit at the knob, placing a fraction of a 
second of time in his favor. But now it came on, 
bound for the bank of the pond, straight for the 
young lumberman, as before ! 

It is said that in moments of extreme peril per- 
sons will sometimes do by instinct that which they 
might not have done at all had they stopped to rea- 
son the matter out. So it was with Owen in the 
present case. 

A short while before, a boy belonging to one of the 
cooks of the camp had been fishing through a hole 
in the ice at the edge of the pond. The boy had 
made for himself a hole two feet in diameter, pos- 
sibly reasoning that the larger the hole the bigger the 
fish he might catch. The hole was still there, al- 
though covered with a thin skim of ice. 

As Owen reached the bottom of the slide, the 
force of gravitation carried him out on the pond, 


CHRISTMAS, AND AN UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL 69 

close to the hole. Directly behind him was the 
heavy log. To escape being struck a blow he knew 
would be a tremendous one, he dove directly into the 
hole and out of sight. Like a flash the log slid over 
the opening, went on across the pond, and brought 
up against the shore opposite with a crash to be 
heard a long distance beyond. 

“ Owen is killed ! ” cried Dale. “ The log has 
smashed him flat ! ” And for the moment he felt so 
weak he could scarcely stand. 

“ I — I don’t see him,” faltered Andrews nerv- 
ously. He felt that if the young lumberman had 
really been taken off thus suddenly he would be in a 
measure responsible. 

“We should have made certain that the slide was 
clear before we let the log down,” groaned Dale. 
“Oh, this is dreadful!” 

“ What’s the yelling about ? ” asked another lum- 
berman, rushing up, and soon a dozen or more were 
assembled at the top of the slide. 

They could see but little in the gathering darkness, 
and burning with anxiety to know the exact truth 
of the catastrophe, Dale began to let himself down 
the hillside by means of a pair of sharp-pointed 
sticks. Andrews and two others followed. 

“ There he is, on the ice ! ” cried Andrews, just 
before the bottom was reached. 


;6 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

“ Sure enough ! ” burst out Dale. “ Why, if he 
isn’t crawling from a hole in the ice ! ” 

“ The log must have knocked him into that hole,” 
said one of the others. “ But he doesn’t seem to be 
much hurt.” 

A little lighter in heart, now that he knew his 
chum was alive, Dale continued on his way to the 
pond, and reached the edge just as Owen came 
ashore. The latter limped a little and was dripping 
from head to feet with icy water. 

a Owen ! ” For the moment Dale could say no 
more. “ Did — did ” 

“ I escaped by the sk — skin of mu — mu — my 
teeth,” was the chattered-out answer. “ Help 
me get to wha — wha — where it’s wa — wa — 
warm ! ” 

“ That I will ! ” answered Dale, and took one of 
Owen’s arms while Andrews took the other. Be- 
tween them they ran the young lumberman into the 
camp and up to the cabin, where they stood him 
close to the stove while they took off his water-filled 
boots and his soaked garments. 

“ I don’t know how I got into the hole, exactly,” 
said Owen, when the chill had passed. “ I saw the 
hole, and the log behind me, and the next minute I 
was in over my head. It was a close shave, and 
phew ! but wasn’t that water icy ! ” 


CHRISTMAS, AND AN UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL 7 1 

“ Why didn’t you jump over the log? ” asked one 
of the men. 

“ It’s a good t’ing he didn’t dun try dat,” put in 
Jeff, the cook. “ Yeah befo’ las’ poor Ike Madded 
dun try jumpin’ ober a log wot was a-rollin* down 
hill an’ he dun got bof laigs broke an’ his nose in de 
bargain ! ” 

“ I didn’t stop to think of jumping,” answered 
Owen. “ All I knew was to get out of the way, and 
that at once.” 

“ After this we’d better have a signal when we 
start to roll logs,” said Dale, and Joel Winthrop 
agreed that this would be a good thing. Fortunately 
Owen did not suffer in the least from his unexpected 
bath. 

The end of the year was now approaching and 
soon came Christmas, a cold, clear day, with the ther- 
mometer down close to zero. 

“ Merry Christmas ! ” shouted Dale to Owen, on 
rising, and “ Merry Christmas! ” rang out all over 
the camp. 

Of course there was no work that day, and the 
men did what they could to amuse themselves, while 
Jeff was given orders to serve the best dinner the 
larder of the camp could afford. Several of the 
men had gone hunting the day before and brought in 
some partridges and other game, including two wild 


72 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

turkeys, and fish from the pond and river were not 
wanting. For dessert the men had a big plum-pud- 
ding, and pie was served, as on many other festal 
occasions, morning, noon, and night. 

“ It’s a good variation from the everlasting 
beans,” observed Owen. “I must say, since I’ve 
lived in and around the cities, I’ve got rather tired of 
beans four or five times a week.” 

“ Gilroy tells me we ought not to complain,” said 
Dale. “ He says that in old times the loggers got 
pork and beans and salt fish and precious little else. 
We are better off than that.” 

Early on Christmas morning a handful of the lum- 
bermen held a church service, one reading a chapter 
from the Bible, another reciting the ten command- 
ments, and a third offering a short prayer. These 
men asked Owen and Dale to sing and play for them, 
and the pair complied and rendered several hymns 
from a tattered book one of the men owned. Then 
all joined in singing one or two other familiar hymns 
and wound up the meeting by singing “ America.” 

“ That’s something like,” said Dale, after the 
meeting was over. “ It makes a fellow feel less 
heathenish to have some sort of a service now and 
then.” 

“ Well, I always go to church when I get a 
chance,” answered Owen. “ But a lumberman 


CHRISTMAS, AND AN UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL 73 

doesn’t get the chance very often, or a mill hand 
either — unless the mill is close to some settlement. ,, 

The new year found the young lumbermen again 
in the woods, this time a good mile from the bank 
of the river. Here a shack had been built, and to 
this place Jeff sent meals for all hands three times a 
day, for the men could not spend th£ necessary time 
going back and forth to the cabin. 

The shack was a poor dwelling-place, and both 
Dale and Owen were glad when, early in February, 
they were ordered back to the main camp. In the 
meantime they heard that Mr. Paxton had taken 
on six new hands, for the cutting was not progress- 
ing as rapidly as the owner of the claim had an- 
ticipated. 

“Well, I never!” cried Dale, on catching sight 
of several of the new workmen. “ There is Bap- 
tiste Ducrot !” 

“ So it is ! ” declared Owen. “ I thought old Win- 
throp said he wouldn’t engage the man.” 

“ Winthrop is away, Owen. He went last week 
to visit a sick relative in Lilybay.” 

“ Then Mr. Paxton must have hired him himself.” 

“ It’s more than likely.” 

“ What do you propose to do? ” 

“ Make Ducrot toe the mark if I can. He took 
that horse, and ” 


74 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

“ Hold on, Dale. If you want to make him pay 
for the horse you had better go slow about it. 
Probably he hasn’t any money now. Supposing 
you let him earn some before you let down on 
him.” 

Dale stared at his chum for a moment. 

“ I never thought of that before! ” he cried. “ Do 
you suppose Mr. Paxton will keep his money for him 
until the end of the season ? ” 

“ I shouldn’t wonder. You can ask and make 
sure.” 

“ I will, and I’ll tell him just how matters stand,” 
answered Dale. 

Without letting Baptiste Ducrot see him he sought 
out the owner of the camp and told his story. Mr. 
Paxton listened to him patiently, whittling a stick 
the while with his big jack-knife. 

“ That’s a pretty straight tale, Bradford,” he said, 
when the youth had finished. “ But can you prove 
positively that this Ducrot took the horse? ” 

“ No, I can’t say that I can,” answered Dale 
bluntly. “ But I’m reasonably certain that he did.” 

“ If you have him hauled up you’ll have to prove 
your charge. If you can’t he may be able to make 
trouble for you for having him arrested.” 

“ Well, what do you advise me to do, Mr. Paxton? 
I know I can depend on what you say.” 


CHRISTMAS, AND AN UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL 7 5 

This frankness pleased the owner of the camp, and 
he nodded slowly. 

“ My advice is that you say nothing at present. 
Go on working as usual and keep your eyes and ears 
open. Sooner or later every criminal exposes him- 
self, if not in one way, then in another. I don’t 
look on Ducrot as a smart customer, and if he is 
really guilty you’ll corner him some day when he 
least expects it.” 

“ Are you keeping his money for him ? ” 

“ All but two dollars a week — and I’m paying him 
seven and board, for men are scarce just now, and 
he can work well when he is put to it and kept from 
drink. Yes, you watch him, and I won’t give him 
his money until I notify you first.” 

And so it was arranged that Dale should watch 
Baptiste Ducrot and do what he could to expose the 
fellow and bring him to book for his misdeeds. 


CHAPTER IX 


DALE AND OWEN SPEAK THEIR MIND 

Dale and Baptiste Ducrot did not meet until two 
hours later, when the young lumberman was sent 
to a tool house to get a new ax. 

They came face to face, and each stared hardly at 
the other. Ducrot seemed on the point of passing 
on, but then changed his mind. 

“ Hah ! so you work dis place? ” he said, his eyes 
searching Dale's features keenly. 

“ Yes, I work here,” was the cold answer. 
“ What is that to you ? ” 

At this Baptiste Ducrot shrugged his lean 
shoulders. 

“ I not care, no, so long you not take my job.” 

“I don't want your job!” exclaimed Dale 
angrily. “ You keep your distance and leave me 
alone, and I’ll leave you alone.” 

At this the French-Canadian muttered something 
under his breath in his own tongue. “ I not 
afraid of you,” he added, in English. 

“ And I’m not afraid of you. If you try any of 
your dirty work again you’ll be sorry for it,” went 

76 


DALE AND OWEN SPEAK THEIR MIND 77 

on Dale, and then passed into the tool house on his 
errand. 

At first Baptiste Ducrot was on the point of argu- 
ing further. But then he saw Owen approaching, 
and he slouched away through the snow, his head 
bent low and a wicked look on his face. 

“ I see you've met him,” said Owen, on coming 
up. “ What did he say? ” 

“ Not much, Owen. What can he say? ” 

“ Did you mention the horse ? ” 

“ No; I am going to follow Mr. Paxton's advice 
and lie low.” 

“ You be careful that he doesn't play you foul, 
Dale. When I get the chance I’ll warn him to keep 
his distance.” 

“ Oh, Owen ; I don’t want you to get into trouble 
on my account,” cried Dale impulsively. , 

“ Isn’t this difficulty mine as well as yours? ” came 
quickly from the older of the pair. “ Haven’t we 
sworn to be chums through thick and thin ? ” 

“ Yes, I know, but ” 

“If he knows there are two of us watching him 
he’ll be more careful, Dale. I really think he’s a 
coward at heart.” 

Several days went by before Owen got the chance 
he wanted. Late one afternoon he found Ducrot 
working in a bunch of spruces and was directed to 


78 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


cut down a tree near by. As he worked the French- 
Canadian shifted the swing of his ax in such a man- 
ner that the chips flew close to Owen, one hitting 
him in the neck. 

“ You go slow there, Ducrot ! ” cried Owen, stop- 
ping work at once. 

“ I no do not’ing,” muttered the man. “ I no like 
you holler at me.” 

“ Stop sending your chips this way. If you don't 
there will be trouble, and you’ll get the worst of it.” 

“ Hah!” 

“ I mean what I say, and now I want you to listen 
to me.” Owen come closer, ax in hand. “ I haven’t 
forgotten the way you treated Dale Bradford.” 

“ I not care for dat boy.” 

“ I know you don’t. What I want to say is, after 
this keep your hands off of him. If you don’t, I’ll 
have you run out of this camp in jig time.” 

“You fight me?” demanded the French-Cana- 
dian, clutching his ax nervously. 

“ I can fight if it comes to it,” answered the young 
lumberman grimly. 

“ Bah ! I not bodder wid you,” snapped Ducrot, 
and turned again to his work. Owen did the same. 
But he kept his eye on the French-Canadian, and 
Ducrot took care not to send any more chips flying 
in his direction. 


DALE AND OWEN SPEAK THEIR MIND 79 

In the camp there were, all told, five French-Cana- 
dians : four loggers and a cook. The cook, it may 
be mentioned, in passing, had charge of one-half of 
the cooking, while Jeff had charge of the other. The 
French-Canadian would have nothing to do with the 
colored man, and thought he could not cook at all, 
while the negro looked with equal disdain upon the 
culinary efforts of the other. 

Baptiste Ducrot was on fairly good terms with 
one of the loggers, a wild fellow named Passamont, 
but he tried in vain to get into the good graces of 
Jean Colette. 

“ I not like dat feller,” said Colette to Dale. 
“He drink, he swear, he make von beast of him- 
self.” 

“ You are right about that,” answered the young 
lumberman. And then he went on : “ Do you ever 

hear him talking about his doings before he came 
here? ” 

“ Some time, oui. He make de big boast. Say 
he make much money an’ spend him. Bah ! Why 
not he safe somet’ing fo’ de day when he rains, like 
you say him ? ” 

“ I know I can trust you, Colette. Will you do 
me a favor? ” 

“Favair? Sure. What shall I do?” 

“If you ever hear him talking about a horse he 


80 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

had and sold, let me know. But don’t say anything 
to him about it.” 

“ A hoss ? He sell a hoss an’ you want to know 
’bout dat ? Verra good ! I keep a big ear fo’ dat.” 
And then Jean Colette shut one eye tightly and 
gazed knowingly at Dale with the other, as if he 
suspected what was in the young lumberman’s 
mind. 

After this many days passed without special im- 
portance. Following the holidays the lumbermen 
began to look forward to the time when the ice in 
the rivers should break and the task of getting the 
winter’s cut to market should begin. Cutters, swamp- 
ers, sled tenders, and drivers were all equally busy, 
while big logs were being rolled down the hillside 
nearly every day. Down by the pond and the river 
were four yards, where the piles oi logs, big and little, 
grew continually. Two extra sleds had come in, and 
six horses, besides a team of oxen, and having re- 
turned to camp from his visit to a sick relative, Joel 
Winthrop was dispatched to Oldtown and Bangor to 
employ the best river drivers money could get for the 
spring rafting. 

“ The best drivers in the world aint none too good 
for this work,” said one old cutter to Dale. “ A 
poor driver can do more harm than a billy goat in a 
dynamite shed. If he lets the drive get away from 


DALE AND OWEN SPEAK THEIR MIND 8l 

him and jam up where it hadn’t ought to, every lum- 
berman on the river will feel like kicking him full o’ 
holes for it.” 

Down at the yards work had already begun on the 
logs, so that when the lower end of the river was 
reached, Mr. Paxton could identify his property 
from the property of scores of other lumbermen. 
In order to know their own logs each lumberman or 
lirm has a private mark, which is cut in deeply on 
every log sent down the stream. The marks are 
numerous, consisting of figures, letters, crosses, stars, 
daggers, and numerous combinations of these. Mr. 
Paxton’s mark was two I’s, an X, and two I’s — 
II X II — and not a log was made ready for shipment 
until the yard foreman was assured that this mark 
was cut in it in such a fashion that the rough pas- 
sage down the various waterways to the mills or 
booms should not efface it. 

“We are going to have a corking cut this year,” 
said Owen, one day, after looking over the lumber 
piles. “ Old Foley says he can count up eighty 
thousand feet more of timber than he had last year 
at this time.” 

“ Well, that ought to please Mr. Paxton,” an- 
swered Dale. “But what was he saying to you 
just before I came up? You mentioned a ride on a 
sled.” 


82 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ He wanted to know if I’d drive over to the Gan- 
nett camp for him. He wants some things from 
there.” 

“ Of course you said you’d go. It will be a fine 
drive over the hills.” 

“ Yes, I said I’d go, and he said I could take you 
if I wished.” 

“ Hurrah, just the thing! ” shouted Dale. “ I’ve 
been wanting a holiday. Working in the woods 
every day in this splendid weather is rather tire- 
some.” 

The matter was talked over, and it was decided 
that the. pair should start early the following morn- 
ing. They had a good stout sleigh belonging to 
Mr. Paxton, and one of the best teams the camp 
afforded. As the Gannett camp was thirty miles 
away, and the snow in some spots was unusually 
deep, they were to take some provisions with them, 
and make the trip a two-days’ one. 

“ I don’t want you young fellows to starbe on de 
way,” said old Jeff. “ So I dun cooked you a fust- 
class dinnah an’ put it in de basket.” And he 
brought it out to them and saw it stowed away safely 
in the back of the sleigh. 

Some of the men had relatives working at the 
other camp, and the young lumbermen carried a num- 
ber of letters in addition to the order Mr. Paxton 


DALE AND OWEN SPEAK THEIR MIND 83 

gave them. There were also two saws to carry and 
two iron camp kettles ; so the sleigh was well loaded 
when they started off. 

“ This is going to be just the finest ride that ever 
was/’ said Dale enthusiastically, as he cracked the 
whip. “ I couldn’t think of anything better.” 

“If we don’t get stuck in a snowdrift,” returned 
Owen. “ The drifts must be pretty deep between 
the hills.” 

“ We’ll have to stick to high ground then,” 

“ That isn’t always so easy.” 

“ Barton said the road was open.” 

“ He was over it ten days ago. Since that time 
we have had some pretty heavy winds, and a light 
fall of snow in the bargain.” 

“ Well, we’ll pull through somehow,” said Dale 
confidently. 

“ Of course we will ! ” 

Away they went, to the westward of the camp 
proper, and then along a road leading up the first 
of the series of hills. The sun shone brightly and 
not a cloud showed itself in the sky. On each side 
of them were the long stretches of pine and spruce, 
many of the trees heavily laden with snow, their bot- 
tom branches hidden in the shroud that covered 
the ground. Not a sound broke the stillness outside 
of the muffled hoof-beats of the team as they moved 


84 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

along as swiftly as the condition of the trail per- 
mitted. 

At the top of the first hill was a small clearing, and 
here they pulled up to take a look around. Noth- 
ing but the trees, brushwood, and snow and ice met 
their gaze, and when the horses stopped moving the 
silence became even more impressive. 

“ It’s grand, isn’t it ? ” was Owen’s comment. 
“ How a fellow can give this up for a stuffy life in 
the city is more than I can understand.” 

“ And yet they do do it, Owen, and some of those 
same fellows couldn’t be dragged back to this after 
once they are away from it.” 

“ Well, everybody to his own fancy, Dale. But 
outdoor life suits me. I’d die boxed up in a big city 
like Boston or New York. I was down in Boston 
once, and when I walked through one of the narrow 
streets, with its big buildings, I felt just as if a hand 
was on my chest, squeezing the breath out of me.” 

“ I know it, Owen. And yet, what do you think ? 
Last year, when I was up to ’Suncook Lake, there 
was a machinist from Bridgeport there, and the sec- 
ond morning after he landed he told me he hadn’t 
slept a wink the night before because it was too 
quiet! Of course, he was piling it on, but, just the 
same, he left for a livelier place that night.” 


CHAPTER X 

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE WOODS 

Noon found them more than halfway on their 
journey. The pull up one of the hills had been a 
tough one and the horses were perfectly content to 
rest in the shelter of a clump of trees and munch up 
the oats brought along for them. 

Finding another sheltered nook the two young 
lumbermen chopped down some brushwood and a 
few dry branches and soon had a roaring fire started. 
Over this they made themselves a pot of coffee and 
warmed up some of the eating brought along. It 
was a good meal and thoroughly enjoyed. 

“ What fun a fellow could have on a hunting trip 
for a week or two ! ” observed Dale. “ I saw half a 
dozen partridges on the road and some tracks that 
looked like those of a deer.” 

“ Yes, indeed, Dale. But we have got to attend 
to work, or our savings account won’t be near as 
large as you want it when we reckon up in the 
spring.” Owen said this dryly, for saving was still 
a sore subject with him, although for every dollar 
85 


86 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


put in the box by his chum he faithfully placed an- 
other beside it. 

They had brought a gun along, and kept their 
eyes open for the possible appearance of some big 
game — not wishing to waste their limited ammuni- 
tion on anything small. But nothing larger than a 
fox appeared, and this animal lost no time in seeking 
cover as soon as discovered by Owen. 

The end of the trip was down into a broad valley 
bordering a long, narrow lake. Here the road was 
narrow and uneven and more than once they had all 
they could do to keep the turnout from going 
over and spilling them and the contents into the 
snow. 

“ I’ll get out and make sure of the path,” said 
Owen at last, and went on ahead, with a long, sharp 
stick, which he stuck into the snow at every place 
that looked doubtful. Thus they avoided more than 
one dangerous hollow and reached ground as safe as 
it was level. 

The coming of the two young lumbermen was 
something of an event in the Gannett camp, and those 
who were looking for letters crowded around 
eagerly. Gannett himself, a tall, thin logger, 
all of six feet four inches in height, greeted them 
cordially as he gave the hand of each a tight 
squeeze. 


WHAT HAPPENED IN THE WOODS 87 

“ Deownright glad to see ye,” he drawled. 
“ Guess ye had a kind of bumpin' ride a-gittin’ over, 
didn't ye? ” 

“ It wasn't as smooth as it might be,” answered 
Owen. 

“ Well, hardly. I hain’t forgot the last time I 
druv over, not by er jugful! Got spilt out twict, 
an' the second time I went into er holler headfust, 
clar to my boots! Ye done uncommon well not to 
spill over.” 

“ The road at our end is good enough; it’s your 
end that needs looking after,” put in Dale, and told 
how Owen had got out and walked. 

“ Yes, I know the road is putty bad in my camp,” 
said Philander Gannett. “ But, ye see, I hain't cal- 
kerlatin' ter stay here another season. I’m going 
to t’other end o' the lake. The timber here aint fit 
fer telegraph poles, much less boards, — an’ I aint 
a-workin’ fer them pulp mills an’ a-spilin’ my tim- 
ber a-doin' of it.” 

The camp, in many respects,, was similar to that 
run by Luke Paxton, so there was nothing of novelty 
to interest the two young lumbermen. Yet, after the 
team was cared for, they took a look around the 
various buildings and around the yard at the lake 
front. At supper time they ate with Philander Gan- 
nett and several of his foremen. 


88 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

“ How long have you been cutting in this neigh- 
borhood?” asked Owen, during the meal. 

“ This aint but the second season,” was Gannett’ s 
reply. “Ye see, I bought this tract from a Boston 
man, named Jefferson Wilbur — him as owns thet 
fancy lodge over to Pine Tree Lake. Wilbur used 
to run two camps up here in Maine, but he got sick 
o’ it, an’ now I understand he’s a-puttin’ his money 
in timber lands in the Far West, Oregon and Wash- 
ington.” 

“ Oregon ! ” repeated Dale, and his mind went 
back to the mining venture in Oregon, in which his 
father had invested so much money. 

“ Exactly. Fie says thet place is the only one to 
get rich in, an’ I reckon he’s right — leas’ wise, I don’t 
think I’m a-goin’ to git rich here.” 

“ What part of Oregon is his lumber claim located 
in? ” 

“ His money is in a company thet has miles and 
miles o’ timber land along the big rivers. He told 
me the names, but I’ve forgotten ’em.” 

“ I’ve seen his lodge on Pine Tree Lake,” said 
Owen. “ It’s a handsome place and must have cost 
a neat sum to build.” 

“Twenty-five thousand dollars, so he told me. 
An’ him an’ his family aint there more’n two months 
out of twelve. Does beat all how some folks kin 


WHAT HAPPENED IN THE WOODS 89 

throw away money,” concluded Philander Gannett, 
with a sigh. 

“ I wish I could meet this Jefferson Wilbur,” said 
Dale to Owen, when they were retiring to the bunk 
to which they had been assigned. “ I’d like to ask 
him if he knows anything about that mine my father 
lost his money in.” 

“ Most likely he doesn’t, Dale. Oregon is a big 
State, and the lumber people don’t come much in 
contact with the miners, I guess. And, besides, this 
Wilbur is a Boston man, not a Westerner.” 

The business that had brought Dale and Owen to 
the camp had been concluded before retiring, so 
there was nothing to keep the young lumbermen 
from starting on the return as soon as they arose on 
the morning following. They were given a hearty 
breakfast of pancakes, fried potatoes, salt fish, and 
coffee, and another lunch was stowed away in the 
basket they carried. Then came some letters for those 
at the Paxton camp, and away they went, with a 
crack of the whip, and a dozen men giving them a 
parting wave of the hand as they disappeared among 
the trees. 

The day was not as clear as they had anticipated. 
The sun was hidden by a number of dark clouds, 
and there was a damp feeling in the air, as of snow. 

“ We’ll be lucky if we get bade before the storm 


90 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


lets down on us,” observed Owen, with an anxious 
look at the sky. “ And I shouldn’t be surprised if 
the storm proved a heavy one.” 

“ Well, the team ought to make as good time get- 
ting back as they did in coming, Owen. And we 
needn’t stop so long for dinner as we did yesterday.” 

Dale walked ahead this time, and soon wh?t they 
considered the most dangerous part of the road was 
passed. Then Dale hopped in beside his chum, and 
away they went, at the best speed the team could 
command. 

It lacked still an hour of noon when the first 
flakes of the coming storm fell upon them. They 
were large flakes, and floated down as lightly as so 
many feathers. Then they grew thicker and thicker, 
until the landscape on all sides was obscured by 
them. 

“ We are going to have our hands full keeping 
to the road now,” said Owen, shading his eyes with 
his palm. “ I must say I can’t see much.” 

“ The horses ought to know their own tracks.” 

“ That is true.” 

Fifteen minutes went by, and the snow kept grow- 
ing thicker and thicker. Owen was on the point 
of pulling up, when of a sudden one of the horses 
gave a snort and reared up violently. 

The act was so unexpected that Dale and Owen 



“ A bear ! ” cried Dale. — Page 91 

















































WHAT HAPPENED IN THE WOODS 91 

were completely astonished. Both clutched the 
lines and held on while the sleigh began to go back- 
wards in a semicircle. 

“ Whoa, Billy ! ” roared Owen. “ Whoa ! What 
in the world is the matter with you ? ” 

“ A bear ! ” cried Dale, and stared ahead. He 
was right; a bear had appeared in the road, directly 
in front of the team. Now the second horse began 
to rear and snort, and the sleigh moved back faster 
than ever. 

“ Get the gun ! ” cried Owen. “ I’ll hold the 
lines ! * 

The weapon was behind the seat, under a patch of 
oilskin cloth, and it took Dale several seconds to 
secure it. By that time the bear had crossed the 
road, and they could hear the beast crashing along 
in the timber beyond. 

“ Where is he?” 

“ Gone, over there ! ” Owen gripped the lines 
tighter than ever. “ Whoa, Billy ! Whoa, Daisy ! 
Whoa, I tell you, or we’ll have a smash-up sure. 
Whoa!” 

But the team was thoroughly scared, and con- 
tinued to snort and plunge. Snap! went one strap 
and then another, and a sharp crack told that 
one of the runners of the sleigh was broken like- 


wise. 


92 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

The young lumbermen had been rounding a bend 
of the hill trail. Just ahead the road was level 
enough, but to the rear it sloped away to a hollow, 
filled with scrub pine, brushwood, and drifted snow. 
Owen was afraid that they would go into this hol- 
low, and they did, with a suddenness that left them 
no time in which to leap to a point of safety. 

Down went the sleigh, turning completely over 
and burying Dale and Owen beneath it. The 
horses came down too, and began to flounder at 
a furious rate in the snow and the bushes. 

It looked as if both Dale and Owen might be 
killed as the result of the accident, but the soft 
snow at the bottom of the hollow saved them from 
all harm but a few scratches. Both sank between 
two rather stout bushes, while the sleigh landed on 
the top of the undergrowth and stuck there, just 
over their heads. Then the horses, by some mirac- 
ulous means, gained their feet once more, and 
dashed down the remainder of the slope, until a line 
of scrub pines barred their further progress. Here 
they stood still, panting, but evidently satisfied 
that their present danger was over. 

“ Dale ! ” It was nearly a minute later when 
Owen crawled forth and freed his mouth from snow 
sufficiently to speak. “Dale, are you alive ?” 

“ I — I guess I am — I don’t know for sure,” was 


WHAT HAPPENED IN THE WOODS 93 

the spluttered-out answer. “ What a tumble that 
was! ” 

“ There are the horses, down by the trees. I’m 
glad they didn’t run any farther.” 

“ The sleigh is a wreck ! ” said Dale, gazing sor- 
rowfully at the upturned outfit. Then he looked at 
the gun which was still in his grasp. “ It’s lucky 
this didn’t go off and hit one of us. Where is that 
bear?” 

Both gazed around, but the beast was not in sight. 
Then they looked at the wrecked sleigh, at the 
horses, and then at each other. 

“ We’re in a pickle, Owen ! ” 

“ It’s a pretty snowy one, Dale. See what you 
can do with this sleigh, while I go and secure 
those horses. If they get away we shall be in a 
fix.” 

Securing the animals was easy, and a few gentle 
words soon quieted them down. Then Owen tied 
them fast and returned to where he had left Dale. 

On examination they found that one of the run- 
ners of the sleigh was cracked, but not broken com- 
pletely off, and around the cracked portion they 
wound some stout cord, making it almost as strong 
as before. Then they turned the outfit right side 
up and searched about for the load, which had been 
spilled in all directions. 


94 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ It’s snowing harder than ever, ,, said Dale, 
“ And some of the things I can't see anywhere.” 

“ I’ve got to mend that harness," came from his 
chum. 

Owen went down to patch up the broken straps, 
while Dale continued to hunt for the missing things. 
As the younger of the two had said, the storm was 
increasing, and both felt that the troubles of the 
trip were by no means at an end. 


CHAPTER XI 


SPRINGTIME IN THE CAMP 

When Owen returned with the horses, Dale had 
found everything but a bag of shot that had been 
resting in the back end of the sleigh when the 
catastrophe occurred. 

“ I can't find the shot anywhere," he said. “ It 
was so heavy that it has sunk clear out of sight." 

“ Well, we can't waste time here," was Owen’s 
reply. “ Come, help me hitch up the team and we’ll 
be on our way." 

They were soon ready to move, and then came the 
task of getting the turnout back to the road at the top 
of the hollow. Before making the start Owen tested 
the ground and the snow in several directions with a 
stick. 

“ We’ll try it this way," he said, pointing out the 
course. “ You take hold of Billy and I'll try to 
handle Daisy." 

With some misgivings, the start was made. The 
horses lurched and plunged, and the sleigh creaked 
and groaned as if ready to go to pieces then and 
there. 


g6 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

“ One more pull and we’ll be up ! ” cried Owen. 
“ Now then, get up, Daisy! get up, Billy! ” 

The team did its best, and now the sleigh was at 
the very edge of the trail above. Here was a steep 
incline of several yards. Billy slipped and Dale 
came close to going under the animal’s hoofs. But 
horse and youth regained their positions, and with a 
final jerk the horses reached a firm footing, and the 
turnout and the young lumbermen came after 
them. 

“Phew! That’s a good job done!” panted 
Owen, coming to a halt for breath. 

“ You’re right, Owen. I was afraid we’d have 
to give it up,” panted Dale in return. 

“ Here is the bag of shot. It must have fallen out 
of the sleigh when the horses first took fright.” 

“ Do you think that bear will bother us any 
more? ” 

“ I hope not. But you had better keep the shot- 
gun handy. I’ll take the reins and try to keep them 
under control, no matter what happens.” 

The sky had grown darker, and the snow was 
now coming down in smaller flakes. These ap- 
peared to grow harder, and presently the wind came 
up, driving the flakes into their faces like so much 
salt. 

% 

“ We’re up against a regular snowstorm, and no 


SPRINGTIME IN THE CAMP 97 

mistake,” remarked Owen. “ We’ll be lucky if we 
reach camp tonight.” 

“ We’ll have to reach camp,” answered Dale 
hastily. The prospect of spending a night among 
the hills, with no shelter, and with a big bear in 
that vicinity, did not appeal to him. 

“ We’ll do the best we can, Dale. I can’t see 
the road, can you ? ” 

“ Not more than a yard or two ahead of the 
horses. But they ought to be able to keep the trail. 
They know they are going home.” 

“ If they don’t get scared again.” 

On they went, the sleigh making scarcely a 
sound, excepting where it scraped over some wind- 
swept rock or an exposed tree root. Both of the 
young lumbermen kept on guard for a possible en- 
counter with wild animals, but not so much as a 
rabbit appeared to disturb them. 

“ Well, we’ve got to trust to luck,” came from 
Owen, at last. “ I can’t see a thing now.” 

“ Nor I, Owen. Shall we get out and walk? ” 

“ No. Let us make ourselves comfortable in the 
sleigh, and the horses can take their own time about 
covering the ground.” 

They settled back, expecting the team to slow 
down. Instead both Billy and Daisy showed a 
strong inclination to increase their speed. Then, a 


98 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

few minutes later, they shot past a clump of trees 
that looked strongly familiar to Owen. 

“Whoop!” he shouted, straightening up. “1 
know where we are now, Dale. Five minutes more 
and we’ll be in sight of camp.” 

“ Good enough,” responded Dale, and he too 
began to watch through the heavy snow. On and 
on they went, the team kicking up the snow briskly, 
as if aware that the toilsome journey would soon be 
at an end. Then they made a turn or two, came 
down under some wide-arching pines, and Dale gave 
a shout: 

“ The camp ! I see the lights ! ” 

He was right, and soon they were coming up to 
the doorway of the big cabin. A loud shout 
brought out several of the lumbermen, including 
Mr. Paxton. 

“ You did well to get home in this storm,” said 
the camp owner. “ I thought sure I wouldn’t see 
you until to-morrow.” 

“ We came pretty close to getting left on the 
road,” answered Owen. “ I’ll tell you about it after 
the turnout is put away.” 

It was only a short while after this that they were 
seated at the long deal table, close to the red-hot 
stove, eating a generous supper and relating their 
tale, to which the men listened with keen interest. 


SPRINGTIME IN THE CAMP 


99 


“ A bear ! ” cried Mr. Paxton. “ It’s a good 
thing he wasn’t real hungry. If he had been he’d 
most likely have chewed one of you up.” 

“ I not like the bear,” came from Jean Colette. 
“ I meet heem vonce — in de woods. He come up an’ 
want to hug me. Bon! I run one, two miles to geet 
avay. He come after me. I climb de tree. He 
climb too. Den I drop down an’ run some more. 
He run too. I swim de pond, an’ run an’ run, till I 
’most drop dead. Den I am safe. No, Jean Col- 
ette, he not like de bear, only when he is dead an’ 
in de pot ! ” 

At this honest speech many laughed, which did 
not hurt Colette’s feelings as might have been ex- 
pected. The only one who showed his disdain was 
Baptiste Ducrot. 

“ Huh ! I not run from de bear,” he sniffed. “ I 
keel two bear vonce — one wid a gun an’ de udder 
wid a knife,” and then he related the story to such 
of the crowd as cared to listen. It was a hair-rais- 
ing tale and some enjoyed it, but it is doubtful if 
anybody believed Ducrot. 

“ He’s a blower,” was Gilroy’s comment. “ He 
loves to make us believe he’s a wonderful fellow, 
but I don’t see it.” 

The young lumbermen were afraid that their em- 
ployer might find fault with them over the broken 


100 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


sleigh and harness, but Mr. Paxton said that he 
thought they had done very well, all things consid- 
ered. 

“ I had a little mare get scared over a bear once,” 
he said. “ She ran away with me and threw me 
into the river and smashed the chaise to flinders. A 
horse has no love for a bear, and even a bobcat 
makes them uneasy sometimes.” 

The fall of snow lasted for several days. But 
after that the weather changed greatly, and soon the 
old lumbermen announced that the first of the spring 
thaws was at hand. The sun grew warmer, and 
during the middle of the day the snow melted rap- 
idly in the nooks that were sheltered from the north 
wind and exposed to the sunlight. 

Old Joel Winthrop had already reached camp 
with two expert log drivers, and the work along 
the pond and the river went on unceasingly. Every 
log brought down to the yards had been marked, 
and now began the task of forming the rafts or 
drives that would be started on their long journey 
to boom or mill as soon as the river got to running 
freely. 

“ Pd like to go down with one of the drivers,” 
said Dale. 

“ So would I, Dale,” answered Owen. “ But I 
guess we had better stay here as long as the work 


SPRINGTIME IN THE CAMP 


IOI 


holds out. There is no telling what employment 
we’ll be able to get after we leave the camp.” 

“ I know that, although I am sure John Larson 
or Peter Odell will give us work if they want 
men.” 

A week later came the announcement that the ice 
in the river was breaking up. The whole camp was 
now a mass of slush and mud, and nobody thought 
of wearing anything but boots when he moved about. 
The last of the logs from the hills were coming down, 
and these were yarded at the extreme end of the 
pond, for Mr. Paxton was going to hold them back 
until the driving on the river was nearly over. 

“ May get an extra order at the last minute,” he 
explained. “ Then the new cut can go in with the 
hold-overs.” 

One fine spring day found Owen and Dale bound 
for the extreme northwest limit of the Paxton 
claim. Mr. Paxton had heard something about the 
man on the next claim cutting some of his lumber, 
and he wanted to find out if it was so. 

“ You know my line,” he said to Owen. “ It’s a 
cut like this.” He showed them with a pencil. 
“ All the timber this side of that line is mine.” 

The two young lumbermen went on horseback, 
each carrying a shot-gun, hoping to bag some game 
on the trip. The mud and the water running along 


102 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


every tiny watercourse did not daunt them, and 
each was in the best of spirits. 

“ Our ride will take us close to Pine Tree Lake,” 
said Dale, as they pushed on. “If we find every- 
thing O. K., let us go to the lake and take a look 
at the fine lodge belonging to Mr. Jefferson Wilbur.” 

“ I’m willing, if it doesn’t take too long, Dale.” 

“ Of course the lodge is locked up now, but per- 
haps there is a caretaker there who will show us 
through. Or, if there isn’t, we can look around the 
outside and through the stables anyway.” 

The young lumbermen kept their eyes wide open 
for game, and succeeded in getting half a dozen 
birds of good size. But nothing else appeared, 
much to their disappointment. 

It lacked an hour of noon when they reached the 
row of firs marking the boundary of the Paxton 
claim. The blazes on the trees were plainly to be 
seen, and they followed the line from end to end 
without much trouble. 

“ Nobody has cut any timber here,” was Owen’s 
comment. “ Some hunters have cut down some 
firewood, but that is all. It’s a false alarm.” 

“ And we’ve had the journey for nothing,” added 
Dale. “ But I’ve enjoyed the trip, haven’t you ? ” 

“ I should enjoy it more if we could spot some 
good game.” 


SPRINGTIME IN THE CAMP 


103 

“ Well, the day isn’t over yet.” 

From the northwest corner of the claim was a 
narrow trail leading to the south shore of Pine Tree 
Lake, a body of water quarter of a mile wide by 
three-quarters of a mile long. In the middle of the 
lake was a long narrow island, on which grew a 
magnificent pine tree, which gave to the lake its 
name. 

“ Looks almost good enough to take a swim in,” 
remarked Dale, as they came out on the lake 
shore. 

“ I dare you to take a plunge,” said Owen. 

“Done!” was the reply. “I don’t take a dare 
from anybody.” 

“ Let us take a look at the lodge first,” went on 
Owen. 

They could see the place, but a short distance 
away, standing on something of a bluff. At the 
edge of the bluff was a set of steps running to a 
tiny wharf, on which was built a boathouse. The 
lodge was a low, rambling structure, built of logs 
and stone, with quaint carvings and curious case- 
ments. 

“ It’s queer he didn’t build more of a city-looking 
house while he was spending his money,” said 
Owen, as they came closer. 

“ Oh, I guess he wanted something that looked 


104 TWO YOUNG lumbermen 

like the backwoods, Owen. No doubt he gets tired 
of city life and city houses.” 

There was no fence around the lodge, and they 
rode up the broad pathway, and then around the 
corner of the building. As they did this they saw a 
man disappear into the building through a window 
opening on a low porch. 

“ Hullo ! ” cried Dale. “ Who was that ? ” 

“ It's queer he went through the window,” re- 
turned Owen. 

“ It was queer. Let us see who it was,” went on 
Dale, and dismounted at the side of the porch. 
Then he went to the open window and peered in- 
side, never dreaming of the surprise in store for 
him. 


CHAPTER XII 


THE LODGE AT PINE TREE LAKE 

“ You had better go slow, Dale,” whispered 
Owen, who was close behind his chum. “ That man 
may not belong here and may be a desperate char- 
acter.” 

“ Do you mean he may be a thief?” whispered 
Dale, in return. 

“ Why not ? There must be a good many things 
of value in this lodge.” 

“ I guess they take most of the things away 
during the winter.” 

“ Not everything. Do you see anybody? ” 

“ No. But I— hark!” 

Dale raised his hand, and both became silent. 
From a room on the other side of the lodge came 
a murmur of voices. 

“ Did you see anybody around, Ducrot ? ” 

“ Nobody is near de place,” was the answer. “ I 
look around verra good.” 

“ It is Baptiste Ducrot ! ” exclaimed Dale, in a 
low voice. “ I am sure he is here for no good.” 

“ Who is with him ? ” 


*05 


106 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

“ I don’t know, but he isn’t a Frenchman.” 

Both young lumbermen left the window and took 
their way with the horses to a summer-house stand- 
ing a short distance away. Here their steeds were 
tied up, out of sight of the lodge. 

“ I am going to investigate this,” said Dale. 
“ Did you know Ducrot had left the camp? ” 

“ He got leave of absence yesterday,” answered 
Owen. “ He was to be back by next Tuesday. I 
heard him speaking to Mr. Paxton about it.” 

“ I’m going to carry my shot-gun,” went on Dale, 
as they moved forward once again in the direction of 
the lodge. 

On the opposite side of the building was a mass of 
shrubbery growing close to several windows. Al- 
though there were no leaves on the bushes, the 
branches were numerous and afforded a fairly good 
place of concealment. 

“ There is an open window,” whispered Owen. 
“ We can hear something from under that.” 

They crawled to the spot he indicated, and listened 
intently. T wo men were in the room beyond — Du- 
crot and the stranger, a good-for-nothing hunter 
and trapper named Link Axton, who had been un- 
der arrest more than once for killing game out of 
season. 

“ The caretaker is taken care of,” Link Axton 


THE LODGE AT PINE TREE LAKE io; 

was saying. “ He won’t be back here for two days,” 
and he gave a self-satisfied chuckle. 

“We take de t’ings away to-morrow mornin’ at 
seex o’clock,” came from Baptiste Ducrot. “ I haf 
de boat waitin’ at de river an’ you geet de wagon. 
Den we make de big money.” And he rubbed his 
hands together in anticipation. 

“ You’re a good one, Bap! ” laughed Link Axton. 
“ And the folks over to the camp think you are as 
honest as the day is long, too ! ” He uttered another 
chuckle. “ Are you going back after this little job is 
over ? ” 

“ I go back to geet my money,” answered the 
French-Canadian. “ Den I tell Paxton I have de 
udder job, ha! ha! ” 

“ And we’ll have a good time over to Sandybay,” 
went on Link Axton. “ Is that where you sold that 
hoss of Larson’s ? ” 

“ Dat de place, Link. But you not say anyt’ing 
’bout him some more,” said Ducrot, with a warning 
shake of his finger. 

The talk went on for half an hour, and Dale and 
Owen learned that the unscrupulous pair had sent the 
caretaker of the lodge a decoy letter summoning him 
to Milo, on supposed business for his employer. They 
had packed up many articles of value in the lodge, 
and intended to take them away by wagon to the 


108 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

river at daybreak the next day. The stolen goods 
were afterwards to be placed on a boat, but where 
they were to be taken after that was not mentioned. 

“I guess we have heard enough,” whispered 
Owen to his chum. “ Come,” and he led the way 
from the lodge to where the horses had been left. 

“ What do you think is best to do?” demanded 
Dale. “ Of course we are not going to let those 
fellows run off with the stuff.” 

“ To be sure not,” answered Owen. “ To my 
mind it will be best to catch them red-handed at 
the work. Then there will be no trouble in con- 
victing them.” 

“ Do you mean we had best go back and let Mr. 
Paxton know what is up ? ” 

“ Yes, either him or the sheriff of the county.” 

“ Did you hear them talk about John Larson’s 
horse? ” 

“ Yes, Dale. Ducrot took the horse beyond a 
doubt, and he was sold somewhere around 
Sandybay.” 

It was decided that they get back to camp with all 
speed. They left the vicinity of the summer-house 
by a back path, keeping well out of sight of the lodge. 
As soon as they felt free to do so, they set off at a 
gallop, and reached the camp long before sundown. 

Mr. Paxton was glad to learn that his timber had 


THE LODGE AT PINE TREE LAKE 109 

not been touched. He was amazed at the story they 
had to tell concerning Ducrot and Link Axton, and 
agreed with Owen that the sheriff of the county 
must be notified at once. This was not easy, and 
while Dale went off with Gilroy to hunt up that of- 
ficial, who lived a good many miles away, Mr. Pax- 
ton, Owen, Andrews, and three others who could be 
trusted, made their plans to leave the camp at mid- 
night. 

“ That will bring us to the lodge in time to stop 
this game,” said the owner of the claim. “ Ancl if 
the sheriff isn’t on hand we’ll hold the rascals till 
he puts in an appearance.” 

Owen was sure that Jean Colette could be 
counted on for aid, and he was taken into the con- 
fidence of the others. His eyes snapped when he 
was told what was wanted of him. 

“Bon! I do dat willingly!” he cried. “Ducrot 
is von verra bad man, oui! I not count him my 
countryman, no ! ” And he shook his head to show 
his earnestness. 

It was not a pleasant ride back to Pine Tree Lake, 
for the slush on the ground made the air damp and 
penetrating; and the ride for Dale and Gilroy was 
equally disagreeable. 

It lacked an hour of daybreak, when the party 
under Mr. Paxton gained the lake shore, and came 


IIO 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


to a halt in a cedar grove. Here the horses were 
tied up, and then Owen led the way forward to- 
ward the lodge. 

“ I see some men approaching on horseback 1 ” 
called out Andrews presently. 

“ Dale is with them put in Owen, after a long 
look. “ It must be the sheriff’s posse.” 

So it proved, and soon Sheriff Folsom reached 
them, followed by Dale, Gilroy, and two men who 
proved to be deputies. 

“ Just in time, I see,” said the sheriff. “ Seen 
anything of our quarry ? ” 

“ Not yet,” answered Mr. Paxton. 

After a brief conference the two parties separated 
again, one to come up at the rear of the lodge, and 
the other close to the boat landing. At the latter 
place rested a skiff, and among the shrubbery 
near by were a horse and a large lumber wagon. 

“ They must be in the house,” whispered Owen 
to Mr. Paxton. 

“ Don’t make a noise,” was the answer. “ Let 
the sheriff make the first move.” 

A few minutes later Baptiste Ducrot appeared at 
the side door of the lodge. He looked anxiously 
around, and seeing nobody disappeared again. 
Then he and Link Axton came from the building 
carrying a trunk between them, and in their outer 


THE LODGE AT PINE TREE LAKE 


III 


hands several bundles. Trunk and bundles were 
dumped into the wagon, and the two evil-doers went 
back into the lodge for more of their booty. 

“ Now is our time,” said the sheriff to his men. 
“ Don’t parley with them, but make ’em surrender 
at once.” 

He and his men moved close to the lodge door and 
waited, pistols in hand. Soon Ducrot and Axton 
came forth again, with more bundles. 

“ Hands up, you rascals ! ” shouted the sheriff, 
and made a show of his weapon, while the deputies 
followed suit. 

“ Caught, by hemlock ! ” cried Link Axton. 
“And just when I thought everything was all 
right ! ” 

“ Don’t shoot ! ” gasped Baptiste Ducrot, in 
sudden terror. “I haf done noddings, no! Don’t 
shoot! ” And he began to beg for mercy in his own 
language. 

“ Do you surrender ? ” demanded the sheriff. 

“ Don’t know but what I’ll have to,” responded 
Link Axton. “ You’ve got the bulge on us. But 
what is it all about ? ” he added with an air of in- 
nocence. “ We aint done no harm.” 

“ You haven’t ? ” put in Owen. “ You were going 
to steal these things ! ” 

“ How do you know that ? ” 


1 12 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ We overheard your talk yesterday.” 

“ And you are caught red-handed, Axton,” put in 
Mr. Paxton, coming up. “ I reckon this pays you 
up for stealing some of my timber two years ago,” 
he continued warmly. 

“ Didn’t steal your timber, an’ wasn’t stealin’ 
nuthin’ now,” retorted Link Axton; yet, when the 
sheriff brought forth two pairs of handcuffs and 
adjusted one pair to his wrists he was much dis- 
turbed. 

The second pair of handcuffs was for Baptiste 
Ducrot. He protested volubly, both in English 
and French, against being made a prisoner, but 
Sheriff Folsom would not listen to him. 

“ There have been enough lodges and camps 
robbed in this county,” he said grimly. “ Reckon 
we’ll make examples of you and Axton, and that 
will teach the other thieves a lesson.” 

Under the sheriff’s directions, several went into 
the lodge, where they found two boxes and a half- 
dozen other bundles tied up ready to be taken away. 
The things outside were brought in once more, and 
a man was detailed to guard the lodge until Jeffer- 
son Wilbur could be notified. 

When Baptiste Ducrot understood how his talk 
with Axton had been overheard by Dale and Owen, 
and how the pair had notified Mr. Paxton and the 


THE LODGE AT PINE TREE LAKE 1 13 

sheriff, he was furious and shook his fist in the 
young lumbermen’s faces. 

“ I not forget dat, nevair ! ” he cried. “ I re- 
member dat. You wait an’ see! ,, 

“ I want to know about that horse that belonged 
to Mr. Larson,” said Dale. “You sold him at 
Sandybay. Where is he now? ” 

“ You fin’ out yourself,” growled Ducrot, and 
would say no more. 

Under the guidance of the sheriff, Ducrot and 
Link Axton were transported to the county-seat, and 
there locked up. Dale wrote a long letter to John 
Larson, and the latter communicated with some 
people at Sandybay, with the result that the stolen 
horse was at last recovered. The French-Canadian 
had sold him for forty dollars to a lumberman 
known to Mr. Paxton. This lumberman attached 
Ducrot’s wages and thus got back his money. Both 
Axton and Ducrot were then held to await the action 
of the grand jury. 

“ I am glad that that matter is straightened out,” 
said Dale to Owen. “ Now I shan’t have to pay for 
that horse.” 

“ We’ll have to keep our eyes open for Ducrot,” 
answered his chum. “ When he gets out of jail he’ll 
do us harm if he can.” 

“ I am not afraid of him. By the way, what of 


1 14 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

the caretaker at the lodge? Did you hear anything 
of him ? ” 

“ Yes, he came back in a hurry when he heard the 
summons was a fake. He is an Englishman, named 
Jasper Nown. I guess he’ll have a bad half-hour 
with Mr. Wilbur when the gentleman finds out how 
near he came to being robbed,” concluded Owen, 
as the camp horn blew to call the men to their day’s 
work. 


CHAPTER XIII 


A LOG JAM ON THE PENOBSCOT 

Several days later came letters for Dale 
and Owen, which the pair read with much inr 
terest. 

The communications were from Mr. Jefferson 
Wilbur, and he wrote to each thanking them for 
what they had done in his interest. He begged them 
to accept what he inclosed as a slight return for 
their services, and ended by stating that if they 
ever came to Boston he would be glad to have 
them call upon him. In each letter was a post-office 
money order for fifty dollars. 

“ That is what I call generous ! ” cried Owen. “ I 
wasn't expecting a thing." 

“ I thought he might thank us, but I wasn't look- 
ing for money," returned Dale. “ I hardly like to 
keep it." 

“ Why not?" 

“ Oh, I can't exactly say. It looks something like 
a charity." 

“ I don't see it in that light. He has plenty of 


Il6 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

money, and this is a substantial evidence of how 
he appreciates what we did.” 

Owen appealed to Mr. Paxton, and the camp 
owner told them to keep the money by all means. 

“ Mr. Wilbur is very rich,” he said. “ And he 
wouldn’t like it at all if you returned his gift. Per- 
haps he’d think you wanted something larger. 
Thank him for his kindness and let it go at that.” 
And in the end each penned the best letter he was 
able, and kept the reward. 

“ Our cigar-box account is growing,” laughed 
Owen, when they counted up their savings. “ Here 
is a clean hundred from Mr. Wilbur, and thirty-six 
dollars besides, and all the wages Mr. Paxton is 
holding back on us. Dale, we’ll be rich before we 
know it.” 

“ Aren’t you glad you started to save when I 
wanted you to. Owen ? ” 

“To be sure. But now I’ve really got to have 
some new fiddle strings. That E is patched in two 
places, and the G is getting all unwound. And I’ve 
got to have a new pair of boots if I am going down 
the river on that last drive.” 

“ Did Mr. Paxton say he’d let you go with Her- 
rick?” 

“Yes, if I’d take charge of the boat. Will you 
go with me? ” 


A LOG JAM ON THE PENOBSCOT II 7 

“ Will a duck swim ? I know Herrick will let us 
help when there is a jam, and that’s the fun of it,” 
added Dale. 

The drives had already been started on the river, 
and pile after pile of logs left the yards, on their 
long way down river and lakes to the booms and the 
mills. Other drives from other camps were also 
coming along, and at times the river presented a 
scene of unusual activity, quite in contrast to the 
dreariness of the winter just past. 

Herrick was one of the old-time “ Bangor boys,” 
a log driver as good as the best. He was Yankee to 
the backbone, tall, thin, and “ leathery,” with jaws 
continually working on a quid of tobacco, and eyes 
that looked one through and through at a glance. 
He was a “ codfish ” man too, and insisted on 
having that dainty for his morning meal with the 
regularity of the sun’s rising. He was usually of a 
mild temper, but when a jam occurred unexpectedly, 
his flow of language was terrific, and his sarcasm 
most biting. But despite this failing, the men loved 
to work with and under him, and he never lacked for 
helpers when he wanted them. 

“ Goin’ to start the drive sun-up ter-morrer,” he 
announced, after being in camp little short of a 
week. “ All them as is goin’ along must hump 
themselves an’ be on hand. An’ the feller as thinks 


1 1 8 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

log-dr ivin’ is dangerous work or jest play hed better 
stay to hum.” 

“ We’ll be on hand,” said Andrews. 

“ \\ ho’s goin’ ter manage the boat ? ” 

“ I’ll take care of the boat,” said Owen. “ Colette 
will be with me, and Gilroy says he is going 
down.” 

“ And I am going,” put in Dale. 

Herrick gazed at Dale from head to foot. 

“ So you be a-goin’, eh ? Do you think it’s dan- 
gerous or child’s fun ? ” 

“ I don’t expect any fun — I expect to work, same 
as I’ve been working,” replied Dale quietly. 

“ He’s all right, Joe,” said Andrews. “ He’s 
done his full share up here all winter.” 

“ Humph ! Drivin’ aint tree-cuttin’, not by a 
jugful,” muttered Herrick; but he made no further 
objections to having Dale along. 

All told, Herrick had a crew of sixteen, including 
Jeff, the cook. Four men went with the driver, at 
the head of the drive, four followed a little further 
up the stream, and the remainder brought up the 
rear, either in the boat or on foot. The boat was a 
large, flat-bottomed affair, managed both with poles 
and with oars, and carried all the provisions for the 
trip, as well as numerous other articles, including 
dynamite, for blowing up a jam that became too 


A LOG JAM ON THE PENOBSCOT II9 

dangerous and could not be started by hand 
power. 

“ We are off! ” said Dale, who was with Owen. 
“ We’ve got a splendid start, too.” 

He was right ; the start of the drive was all that 
could be expected, and as log after log caught the 
current and started on its long journey, a cheer went 
up from those left at the camp. 

“ Good-by to dat camp fo’ anudder yeah,” came 
from Jeff. “We dun hab a putty good time of it, 
didn’t we?” 

“ That’s true,” came from Owen. And he 
added to Dale : “ Do you think we’ll come up an- 
other season ? ” 

“ That is more than I can say now. I’ll be willing 
to go back if I can’t find anything better to do.” 

Day after day went by, and the work along the 
drive remained about the same. At noon the boat 
would tie up, and Jeff would go ashore and cook all 
hands a square meal, and this would either be car- 
ried to the workers in kettles, or they would come 
to the spot for it. At night the men slept anywhere 
that suited them. 

Thus the first of the lakes were passed, and they 
found themselves drawing down to what was lo- 
cally termed the Sugar-Bowl, why, no lumberman 
could tell. The Sugar-Bowl was a place where the 


120 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


river made a double turn, and in the center were 
several rocks, where the water swirled and foamed 
continually. 

Dale wanted to know how the front end of the 
drive was making out at the Sugar-Bowl, and the 
news was not long in coming. 

“ Hold back the rest of the logs as long as you 
can,” was the word sent back. But it was too late. 
Most of the timber went forward with a rush, and in 
less than quarter of an hour there was a jam at 
the rocks half an acre in extent, and growing larger 
every moment. 

“ Consarn the luck ! ” came from Herrick. 
“ Why in the name of blue peter didn’t ye hoi’ back 
them air logs as I told ye, Foley? Look at thet 
current a-roarin’ over yander. F ust thing yeou know 
we’ll be a-havin’ a jam clear back to the lake, an’ 
every lumberman on the ’Nobscot a-blamin’ me 
for’t. Git over thar with yer dog and turn thet 
stick around.” And Foley, the man addressed, 
leaped to the place mentioned with his hooked pole, 
commonly called a cant-dog or dog. The log went 
over, and a few of the timbers went around the 
rocks in consequence, but the main part of the jam 
stuck tighter than ever. 

“ I shouldn’t wonder if they’d need some dyna- 
mite there,” said Owen. “ But Paxton said not to 


A LOG JAM ON THE PENOBSCOT 12 1 

use the stuff if it could be helped. It spoils too 
much timber.” 

Nearly all of the lumbermen belonging to the 
drive were now assembled on both sides of the 
river, waiting for orders and wondering how 
Herrick would get out of the difficulty. 

“Shall I bring up some dynamite?” asked 
Andrews. 

“ Naw ! ” exclaimed the old log driver, in dis- 
gust. “ I driv logs on this river afore thet stuff 
was heard of. Yeou jest stand over thar an* start 
them logs when I give the word.” He turned to 
some others. “ Yeou stand there, an' yeou go to 
them rocks an’ watch thet big log thet’s a-bobbin’ up 
an’ down. An’ all of ye do jest as I tell ye, or some- 
buddy will git hurt, an’ not by the logs nuther ! ” 

With this caution Herrick leaped on the jam, with 
a cant-hook in one hand, and an ax in the other. 
Out he went, hopping from one insecure position to 
another. The others watched him with breathless 
interest. They knew that the old driver was taking 
his life in his hands. An unexpected turn of a 
timber or two, and he might go down in the midst 
of that jam, to be smashed into a jelly. 

Dale and Owen were on the left bank of the 
stream, where the logs were now piled four and five 
deep. The water was rushing around the jam with 


122 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


increasing fury, and they stood in it up to their 
ankles. Through the flying spray they saw old Her- 
rick begin to chop away at a big timber that had 
caught sideways of the river, from one rock to the 
next. 

“ That’s dangerous work,” was Dale’s comment. 
“ When that stick goes how is he to save him- 
self?” 

“ Watch them logs ! ” yelled old Herrick. 
“ When I h’ist the dog let ’em go ! ” 

The flying spray almost hid him from view, and 
every man watched with bated breath. They heard 
the muffled blows of his ax, for he was working 
partly in and partly out of the water. Then came a 
crack like that of a gun report, as the key timber of 
the jam snapped in two. In the nick of time old 
Herrick jumped back and began to run over the logs 
shoreward with the agility of a trained athlete. As 
he came on he hoisted his cant-hook and the men 
let the logs go, one after another as he had 
directed. 

It was a sight never to be forgotten. Down past 
the rocks and into the broad river below swept the 
logs, occasionally piling up as before, and then break- 
ing away with a rush and a cracking to be heard a 
long way off. The men rushed hither and thither, 
under the head driver’s directions, doing all in their 


A LOG JAM IN THE PENOBSCOT 123 

power to prevent another such jam as had first oc- 
curred. 

It was exciting work for Dale and Owen. The 
logs bobbed up and down along the shore and more 
than one threatened to take the young lumbermen 
off their feet. They were now in water up to their 
knees and working as hard as anybody. Herrick 
had come over to their side, and was issuing direc- 
tions with the rapidity of a Gatling gun. 

“ Hump yeourselves ! ” he roared. “ Swing thet 
log over ! Look out or ye’ll git struck. Throw thet 
log in fer a minit. Now then, all together on this 
here pile. Hump! I tell ye! I didn’t take no man 
along to go to sleep on this job ! ” And everybody 
“ humped,” until he was bathed in perspiration and 
ready to drop from exhaustion. 

Three-quarters of the logs had passed the turn 
and the rocks, and old Herrick and the majority of 
the men had gone ahead to take care of the drive at 
the next difficult spot, when there came another jam, 
this time on the rocks close to where Dale and Owen 
were standing. 

“ Gracious ! this won’t do ! ” exclaimed Owen. 
“ See how the logs are piling up again. I’ll have to 
release them ! ” And he began to move across the 
logs with his cant-hook. 

“Look out!” came in warning from Dale, and 


124 TW0 YOUNG lumbermen 

then he ran to his chum’s assistance, carrying 
an ax. 

The pair were hard at work, turning aside one log 
and chopping at another, when there came a cry 
from up the river : 

“ Look out there ! Danbury’s drive is coming ! ” 

Both looked up the stream and saw that the warn- 
ing was true. Another drive of logs was coming 
on swiftly. In a twinkling it hit the back logs of 
the Paxton drive, and sent them up close to where 
Dale and Owen were standing. The spray flew in 
all directions, and to their horror those standing on 
shore saw the two young lumbermen slip and slide 
on the upheaving timbers and then disappear from 
view. 


CHAPTER XIV 


BERTIE AND GERTRUDE 

“ Those young fellows are lost ! ” 

Such was the cry from more than one old lumber- 
man standing on the river bank, as Dale and Owen 
disappeared from view amid the flying spray and 
upheaving timbers of the log jam. 

That it was a dangerous position, fully as peri- 
lous as that from which old Herrick had emerged 
but a short while before, was beyond question. 
The drive behind was extra large, and the logs 
were piling up with a rapidity almost indescrib- 
able. 

As Dale went down, flat on his back on two of the 
largest of the logs, he gave a shudder he could not 
repress. Like a flash he had a mental vision of being 
hurled under the drive, and of the others finding his 
crushed body long afterwards — his body and that 
of his chum, too. 

But life is sweet to every one, and Dale did not in- 
tend to give up without a struggle. As quickly as 
he could he turned over, and clutching at a log that 
was rising above the others, he pulled himself up. 


125 


126 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


Then his arm touched Owen’s shoulder, and he 
grabbed his chum. 

“ Get up, quick! ” he gasped. “ We must get to 
shore somehow, or we’ll go under ! ” 

“ All right, come on ! ” came pantingly from 
Owen, and off they started across the logs. 

The drive was shifting in all directions, and logs 
rose and fell in front and on each side of them. 
Often they would be on the point of taking a step, 
when the log would bob out of sight, leaving noth- 
ing but water in its place. Then a timber would 
turn on them just as they hopped to another. Once 
Dale straddled a log, but Owen got him up in 
time to save him from having his leg crushed. 
So they kept on, gradually drawing closer to the 
shore. 

“ By George ! they are out of it ! ” cried Andrews. 
“ This way, boys, this way ! ” 

They saw him waving his hand, and turned in that 
direction. It was well they did this, for the drive 
was shifting, so that one section near the shore 
swung around to the middle of the stream. But 
their danger was now at an end, and in a few seconds 
more they stood on solid ground, dripping from 
head to feet, and with their hearts thumping wildly 
in their breasts. 

“ Kind of a close call for you,” remarked An- 



Logs rose and fell in front and on each side of them, 
Page 126. 



































































BERTIE AND GERTRUDE 12 7 

drews. “ I wouldn’t have been in your place for a 
thousand dollars.” 

“ It was a close call,” answered Dale. His face 
was pale, and he felt a strange sinking sensation all 
over him. 

“ Better rest for a spell, you and Owen too,” 
went on Andrews, and they followed his advice and 
did not move on again until half an hour later. The 
boat contained some dry clothing, and this, when 
donned, made them feel fairly comfortable. 

The remainder of the drive occurred without any- 
thing unusual happening, and a week later found the 
two young lumbermen in Bangor, where they put up 
at a cheap but comfortable boarding house, at which 
Owen was already known. The proprietors of sev- 
eral houses of low reputation tried to get them to 
take rooms elsewhere, but they would not. 

“ They can’t catch me for a fool,” said Owen. 
“ They’ve got some of the poor chaps, and those 
fellows will be penniless in less than a month,” and 
so it proved. Many lumbermen are reckless, and 
their wages are spent in drinking and gambling as 
soon as received. But conditions are gradually im- 
proving, and it is to be hoped that some day these 
boarding-house “ sharks,” as they are called, will be 
banished altogether, not alone from this territory, 
but also from every other Down-East lumber district. 


128 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

The savings of the two young lumbermen, includ- 
ing the gift from Mr. Jefferson Wilbur, amounted 
to over three hundred dollars, a sum which both sur- 
veyed with delight, and Owen with positive aston- 
ishment. 

“ Three hundred and twenty-four dollars,” cried 
Owen. “ And half of it belongs to me. Why, I 
never dreamed I could save so much.” 

“ It only shows what you can save if you put your 
mind to it,” answered Dale. “ We’ve saved this 
and we haven’t deprived ourselves of very much 
either, have we? ” 

“ Not a great deal, Dale. Once in a while I 
wanted some extras, but I’m just as well off, I 
reckon, as if I’d had ’em. What do you think we’d 
best do with this cash? It isn’t safe in the trunk. 
The house might burn down.” 

“ Let’s each open a bank account of one hundred 
dollars,” answered Dale, and this was done. They 
were very proud of their bank books, and looked at 
them a long while before stowing them away. 

“ The interest on a hundred dollars each year 
won’t be much, but it will be enough to buy 3. fellow 
a good pair of boots,” said Owen. 

While they were in Bangor looking around for 
another situation, they heard news from up the 
river. On the day he was to be tried in court Bap- 


BERTIE AND GERTRUDE 


129 


tiste Ducrot had escaped from jail. Where he had 
gone nobody knew, but the report was that he had 
jumped aboard a fast freight on the Canadian Pa- 
cific Railroad, and taken his flight to the Far West. 
Link Axton had been tried and sentenced to two 
years in the State penitentiary. 

“ Ducrot won't dare show himself here for a good 
many years," said Owen. “ And it may be that he’ll 
never come back." 

“ Well, I guess Maine can get along without him," 
answered Dale. “ I never want to see or hear of him 
again." 

Bangor was alive with lumbermen, and the two 
soon found out that the mills had all the help they 
wanted, and even the yards could take on no addi- 
tional hands. Then they tried Oldtown, and half a 
dozen other places, with like result. 

“ We are out of it," said Dale, on Wednesday 
evening, after a long and unsuccessful trip. “ If 
nothing turns up by Saturday, I’ll be for going to 
Larson’s and Odell’s next Monday," and so it was 
arranged. 

But on Friday came an offer from Mr. Paxton 
which both accepted without hesitation. The lum- 
berman had taken a strong liking to Dale and Owen, 
and now he asked them to go back to the camp that 
had been left, and, along with several others, begin 


130 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

the task of cutting a road from the old camp, across 
the hills to Pine Tree Lake. 

“ I have purchased the Roxtell claim on the lake,” 
said Mr. Paxton, “ and I want to have a good road 
there before we begin to cut next fall. I’ll pay you 
the same wages that Pve been paying, and twenty 
cents an hour for overtime, if you want to make 
more.” 

“That suits me exactly!” cried Dale. And he 
added to Owen : “ It will give us a chance to do 
some hunting and fishing.” 

As soon as they could make a few necessary pur- 
chases the two young lumbermen started up the 
river once more, and ten days later found them back 
at the old camp and at work on the road Mr. Pax- 
ton had had marked out. 

Summer was now at hand, and the weather was 
clear and warm. The spring had been rather wet, 
but since that time the rainfall had been very slight, 
and, as a consequence, the forest was almost as 
dry as tinder and getting drier every day. 

“ We’ll have to look out for forest fires now,” ob- 
served Gilroy, who had charge of the men. “ Don’t 
make a fire anywhere unless you put it out thor- 
oughly when you are through with it.” 

“ It’s not the lumbermen you’ve got to caution,” 
answered Andrews, who was also present. “ It’s 


BERTIE AND GERTRUDE 1 3 1 

the fool hunter who makes a fire and then moves 
away without giving it a second thought.” 

The work was hard, and during the middle of the 
day the men often had to knock off for an hour, for 
the sun beat down mercilessly, and there was not 
a breath of air stirring. 

“ Phew ! but this is like an oven,” said Dale. 

“ What must it be down in the city ? ” returned 
Owen. “ I wouldn’t be living there now for double 
wages.” 

During those hot days bathing was very much in 
order, and Dale and Owen patronized the pond or 
the river, both morning and evening. Each was a 
good swimmer, and they consequently got a good 
deal of sport out of the plunges. 

The building of the road occasionally took them 
to the vicinity of Mr. Wilbur’s lodge, and they soon 
learned that Mrs. Wilbur had arrived there, accom- 
panied by her two children, a little curly-haired girl 
of five, named Gertrude, and a manly chap of six, 
named Bertie. Later on a number of relatives and 
visitors were expected, and with them Mr. Wilbur, 
who was now in the West looking up his lumber in- 
terests in that locality. 

“ They ought to have a good time,” remarked 
Owen. “ They haven’t got a thing to do but to 
enjoy themselves.” 


132 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ I don’t know that I want to be idle all the time,” 
replied Dale. “ I wouldn’t know what to do with 
myself.” 

“ That’s true, too. But I’d like to take a day off 
when I felt like it.” 

One day the young lumbermen were coming along 
the lake road when they espied the Wilbur children 
coming toward them. They were on a run, hand in 
hand, and came to a halt directly in front of the 
team. 

“ Give us a ride? ” shouted both, in their childish 
treble. “ Give us a ride? ” 

“ To be sure we’ll give you a ride,” answered 
Owen good-naturedly, and brought the horses to a 
stand. Then he jumped to the ground and lifted up 
first Gertrude and then Bertie, and Dale made them 
safe and comfortable on the broad seat. 

4 ‘ Oh, let me drive ! ” came from Bertie, and he 
grasped one of the lines. Gertrude immediately se- 
cured the other, and away went the lumber wagon 
once more, both Owen and Dale keeping watch that 
nothing should go amiss. 

“ I’d like to be a big lumberman,” observed 
Bertie. 

“ My papa is one,” came from Gertrude. “ He 
makes wood for houses, an’ railroad trains, an’ 
everyfing ! ” 


BERTIE AND GERTRUDE 


133 


“ Good for him ! ” laughed Dale. “ Well, maybe 
your brother will be a lumberman when he grows 
up” 

“ I’m ’most growed up now,” came from the 
brother. “ Aunt Fanny says when I’m all growed 
up I’m going to be a six-footer.” 

“ What’s a six-footer ? ” queried the sister. 
“ Has it got six feet ? ” 

“ No, a six-footer is a giant,” answered Bertie. 
“ I’m going to be one.” 

“ I don’t like giants,” answered Gertrude, and 
then turned her attention again to driving. 

It was not long before they came in sight of the 
lodge, and here Owen wanted to drop the little pas- 
sengers. But they begged to be taken “ just one 
step further, just one little tiny step,” and so to 
please them they went on to the end of the grounds. 

They were just halting again when a burly man 
came rushing from the lodge. He was an English- 
man, with a beefy face and a manner that showed he 
was exceedingly overbearing. 

“ Hi ! hi ! stop ! ” he roared. “ Put those chil- 
dren down! What do you mean by carrying them 
along on such a dirty wagon as that ? ” 

“ Come, we’ll have to put you down now,” said 
Owen to the little ones, and helped them to alight, 
without paying attention to the newcomer. 


134 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

“ I say, what do you mean by putting those chil- 
dren on your dirty wagon ? ” went on the English- 
man wrathfully. 

“ They wanted a ride and we gave it to them,” 
answered Dale. 

“ Well, don't you do it again.” The man turned 
to the little ones. “ Run to the house now. Your 
mamma is looking all over for you.” 

“ You are very civil, I must say,” said Owen 
dryly, and then he drove off, with Dale beside him, 
leaving the Englishman gazing after them with a 
countenance that was more wrathy than ever. 


CHAPTER XV 

TWO LITTLE RUNAWAYS 

“That fellow must be Jasper Nown, the care- 
taker here,” remarked Dale, after they had driven 
out of hearing of the man who had come after the 
Wilbur children. 

“ I guess you're right,” returned Owen. He drew 
a long breath. “ I wouldn’t have him around me 
five minutes,” he added. 

“ Nor I, Owen. But I guess it’s the style to have 
an Englishman around. I know they have English 
butlers and English coachmen down in Boston.” 

“ Oh, well, an Englishman is all right — you know 
that as well as I do. One of the best fellows I ever 
worked with at Odell’s was Nestor, and he was an 
Englishman. But this fellow is one of the over- 
bearing, know-it-all kind.” 

“ Perhaps he doesn’t act that way when Mr. or 
Mrs. Wilbur is around.” 

“ More than likely he doesn’t.” 

The work on the new road through the woods 
continued day after day. During that time there 
was only one little shower, which scarcely wet the 


*35 


136 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


ground. As Dale said, everything was as dry as 
punk, and the bushes and trees showed that a heavy 
downpour was needed. 

During those days the two young lumbermen had 
occasion to pass the Wilbur lodge several times. 
Once they met Jasper Nown, and he stared at them 
surlily, but without speaking. 

“ Mr. Wilbur must have scolded him for having 
allowed Ducrot and Axton to break into the lodge, 
and he must think that we are in some way respon- 
sible for the calling-down he got/’ said Owen, and 
his chum agreed that this might be so. 

One afternoon they met Mrs. Wilbur out walk- 
ing with Gertrude and Bertie. Both of the children 
recognized the young lumbermen, and set up a shout. 

“ Give us another ride? ” came from Bertie. 

“ Yes, yes! ” put in Gertrude. “ I like to ride in 
that big wagon.” 

“ Not now, dears,” said Mrs. Wilbur, and then 
she smiled and bowed to Dale and Owen, and they 
tipped their caps to her. “You were kind to give 
them a ride the other day,” she remarked sweetly. 

“ Oh, they were welcome,” replied Owen, and 
Dale said something similar. 

“ What is your name? ” asked Bertie, of Dale. 

“ Dale Bradford.” 

“ And what is yours ? ” 


TWO LITTLE RUNAWAYS 


137 


“ Owen Webb.” 

“ Oh, are you the young men who caught the 
fellows who wanted to rob the lodge?” cried Mrs. 
Wilbur quickly. 

“ Guess we had a hand in it,” answered Owen, 
reddening a little. 

“ Mr. Wilbur told me all about it. You did us 
a great service. Those men were going to take 
away some silverware that has been in our family 
for a hundred and forty years.” 

“ Oh, did they catch the bad robbers ? ” came 
from Bertie. “ You must be awfully brave.” 

“ We only helped, Bertie,” answered Dale. 

“ Some day you must come up to the lodge and 
call on us,” went on Mrs. Wilbur. 

“ Thank you,” answered both young lumbermen ; 
and after a few other pleasant words they drove 
on, Mrs. Wilbur smiling after them, and Bertie and 
Gertrude waving their hands. 

“ She’s all right,” came from Owen. “ She 
knows how to treat a fellow civilly.” 

“ Certainly she didn’t treat us as Jasper Nown 
did,” returned Dale. “ It’s easy to see that she is 
a perfect lady.” And then he thought of his own 
sweet mother, now gone so many years, and heaved 
a deep sigh. 

On the following day the weather turned out un- 


138 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

usually hot, and both Dale and Owen were glad 
when Gilroy told them that he wished both to go for 
him on an errand to the next camp, a distance of 
eight miles through the forest. They had to go to 
this place on foot, and he told them they might take 
their time and do a little hunting on the way. 

“ It beats chopping, on such a day as this,” said 
Owen. “ We can not only hunt a little, but fish too, 
and take a fine swim in the bargain, when we reach 
the head of the lake.” 

They started off directly after breakfast and were 
soon well on the way. Each had a fishing line with 
him, but, at the last minute, only Owen took his 
gun. 

“ I can fish while you hunt,” said Dale. 

Deep in the forest it was much cooler than in the 
open, and though the trail was unusually rough in 
this direction, they made fairly good progress, and 
by ten o’clock had reached the end of the lake Owen 
had mentioned. Here they stopped for a short 
swim, and then struck out again, resolved to do their 
hunting and fishing when on their way home. 

Their course now took them around in the direc- 
tion of one end of Pine Tree Lake. Here was a 
little lake called the Mirror, on account of its clear- 
ness, on the shore of which some hunters had erected 
a small lodge. 


TWO LITTLE RUNAWAYS 


i39 


“ The sun seems to be clouding over,” remarked 
Dale, as they approached Mirror Lake. “ It didn’t 
look a bit like rain when we started.” 

“ Dale, I don’t believe those are clouds.” 

“ Not clouds? What do you mean? ” 

“ That is smoke. The forest is on fire some dis- 
tance from here.” 

Dale sniffed the air. “ I believe you are right, 
Owen. I hope the fire doesn’t come this way.” 

“ It will unless something stops it. Just look 
how dry everything is.” 

For several minutes they watched the smoke with 
much concern. It was moving to the northward, 
but presently it shifted in their direction. 

“ It’s coming this way, Owen.” 

“ I see it is; and the wind is coming up, too! ” 

“ What had' we better do — turn back ? ” 

“ I don’t know. The fire may be a long way off. 
Smoke will carry for miles and miles, you know.” 

“ But if it comes this way ” 

“ I think if we can reach Granger’s camp we’ll 
be all right. He has cut everything big off of 
White-cap Hill, and there is a wide brook to the 
northward.” 

They continued on their way, watching the sky 
as before. Soon the sun went under the smoke 
and appeared like a great ball of fire hanging in 


140 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


space. Then the wind freshened, and the smoke 
came down so that they could smell it plainly. 

“ I must say this doesn't suit me at all,” exclaimed 
Dale. “ If we don’t look out we’ll be hemmed in 
by that fire.” 

They had now reached the little lake in the woods, 
and were walking towards the small lodge men- 
tioned, when, to their astonishment, they saw the 
Wilbur children sitting on the bank fishing. 

“ Hullo!” ejaculated Owen. “ What brought 
them up here? ” 

“ The children must be having a day’s outing in 
the woods,” returned Dale. “ Wonder who is with 
them?” 

The children were a little startled to see them 
approaching, but set up a shout of gladness when 
they recognized the two young lumbermen. 

“ We are out camping all by our own selves,” 
announced Bertie proudly. “We are going to fish 
and hunt, and build a big campfire, and everything.” 

“Alone?” queried Dale, in amazement. 

“ Yes, all alone,” answered Gertrude. “ Nurse 
wouldn’t let us come, but we run away when she 
wasn’t looking. And Bertie’s got a real gun and 
fishing lines, and I brought along some fruit cake 
and two oranges, and a box of candy, and my Poliy 
doll.” 


TWO LITTLE RUNAWAYS 141 

“ I wanted to bring Rover, but he barked so I 
was afraid Jasper would hear him,” went on Bertie. 
“We are going to stay here two whole days. What 
do you think of that? ” 

“ I think you did very, very wrong to run away 
from your nurse and your mamma,” said Owen 
soberly. “ Your mamma will think you are lost, 
and she’ll look all over for you.” 

“ And you mustn’t think of using a gun,” put in 
Dale. “ Why, it might kill somebody.” 

At these words both Bertie and Gertrude grew 
very sober. All in a minute the outing lost its 
charm for them. 

“ I am going home to mamma,” announced Ger- 
trude. “ She’ll cry if she thinks I am lost.” 

“ I didn’t catch a fish,” came from the boy. “ I 
don’t believe there are any here.” 

“Do you know the way home?” questioned 
Owen. 

At this query both children looked perplexed. 

“ That way,” said Bertie, pointing with his hand. 

“ No, that way,” announced the little girl, point- 
ing in another direction. Both were wrong. 

“ We’ll have to take them home,” said Dale. 
“ If we don’t they may become worse lost than 
ever. It’s a good three miles to the lodge from 
here.” 


142 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

“ I don’t see how they got so far,” said Owen. 

“ Oh, we jes’ walked and walked and walked,” 
answered Gertrude. “ I didn’t get tired, but I guess 
Polly did,” and she caught up the doll that lay 
near, and hugged it to her breast. 

The things the children had brought with them 
were gathered up, and the start for the Wilbur lodge 
was made without further delay. 

“ Give me a piggy-back ? ” asked Bertie of Owen, 
and the young lumberman did so, while little Ger- 
trude was accommodated in a similar fashion by 
Dale. This lasted until the party had a rough 
mountain path to climb down. 

“ We didn’t come this way,” said Bertie. 

“ If you went around this hill you had a long 
walk,” said Owen. “ This is the nearest way to 
your home.” 

The smoke was now growing thicker and thicker, 
while the wind increased steadily. Then of a sud- 
den a hundred sparks appeared to fly around and 
over them, setting fire to the forest in a dozen 
places. 

“This won’t do!” ejaculated Dale. “It’s get- 
ting altogether too close for comfort ! ” 

“You’re right; we’ve got to hustle, or we’ll be 
scorched sure,” answered Owen. 

“ Oh, the fire ! ” screamed Gertrude, as a spark fell 


TWO LITTLE RUNAWAYS I43 

on her hand. And dropping her doll, she began to 
suck the blistered spot. 

The two young lumbermen caught up the children 
once more and set off as fast as the nature of the 
trail permitted. The fire behind was now coming 
closer, and they could hear the roaring and crackling 
of the flames distinctly. Both Bertie and Gertrude 
were badly frightened and cried loudly, while they 
dropped everything they carried. Then Owen 
tripped and fell, and lost his gun, but did not give 
it a second thought. 

“ We can’t get to the lodge, that’s sure,” said 
Dale. “ The fire is coming between us and that 
spot.” 

“ Make for Pine Tree Lake ! ” cried Owen. “ It’s 
our only hope. If we don’t reach it we’ll be burned 
up!” 


CHAPTER XVI 


PURSUED BY THE FOREST FIRE 

o 

Both the young lumbermen realized their peril 
fully and spurted down the hillside and through the 
forest at the best speed they could command. 

On every side of them were tall pines, spruces, 
and other trees, with here and there a patch of 
brushwood. The fire caught each tree as if by 
magic, and the flames would run up from roots 
to top with the rapidity of lightning, and then the 
tree would resemble some giant torch. Sometimes 
a tree in the rear would burst open with the report 
of a pistol, sending forth a new shower of sparks, 
which the wind caught and wafted still further to 
the front of the conflagration. 

The fire had reached more than one wild animal, 
and the young lumbermen caught sight of wolves, 
foxes, and deer running madly to escape, the flames. 
The birds also flew around, uttering wild notes of 
distress as they saw their nests destroyed. 

Long before the shore of Pine Tree Lake was 
reached, the fire appeared to be at their very heels. 

144 



“ Jump 


Don’t wait! Jump ! ” yelled Owen. — Page 145, 





































































































PURSUED BY THE FOREST FIRE 145 

The sparks flew all around them, landing on their 
hands and necks, and occasionally drifting directly 
into their faces. To protect the children they car- 
ried the little ones close to their breasts, yet they 
did not escape altogether, and added their shrieks 
of fear and anguish to the general excitement. 

“ Oh, please take me away ! ” wailed Bertie. “ I’ll 
promise never to run away again, never ! ” 

“ Oh, my hand is burnt ! ” screamed Gertrude. 

“ Take me to mamma! Take me to mamma!” 
And she continued to scream until she was ex- * 
hausted, when she lay limp in Dale’s arms. 

At last they could see the lake far ahead through 
the trees. Here was a bluff, standing out fifteen 
feet above the water, and partly overgrown with 
trees and bushes. 

A puff of wind caused the sparks to whirl all 
around them, and each staggered for a moment as 
he came out on the bluff. To both Dale and Owen 
it seemed at that instant as if the whole world was 
on fire. 

“Jump! Don’t wait! Jump!” yelled Owen 
hoarsely, and then, with the fire fairly roaring at 
his heels, each leaped into the lake with his burden. 

It was a sudden plunge, especially for the children, 
and each spluttered and kicked wildly when going 
under the surface. But the plunge extinguished 


146 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


the sparks that clung to all, and for the time being 
they were safe, so far as being burnt was concerned. 

Just beyond the bluff the lake was fully fifty feet 
deep, so Dale and Owen knew that, if they wished 
to save the children and themselves from drowning, 
they would either have to swim to the opposite shore 
or to the island upon which grew the giant pine. 
The fire was already running all along the edge of 
the bluff, and threatened to cross the cove, on the 
opposite shore of which was located the Wilbur 
lodge. 

Each of the young lumbermen could have swum 
to the island with ease had he been alone. But with 
an excited and kicking child in his arms it was not 
so easy. 

“ Take me out of the water 1” spluttered Gertrude. 
“ Take me out ! ” 

“ We’ll be drowned! ” came from Bertie. “ Oh, 
please put me on the shore, please ! ” 

“ We’ll take care of you, only keep quiet,” said 
Dale. “ We can’t carry you if you kick like that.” 

“ And you mustn’t hold too tight,” put in Owen, 
for Bertie had him by the throat in the tightest 
clutch his little hands could command. 

But the children were too young to understand 
the situation, and they continued to cry and kick and 
hold on as tightly as ever. All Dale and Owen 


PURSUED BY THE FOREST FIRE 14 7 

could do was to tread water, and more than once 
it looked as if they would go down after all. Swim- 
ming from the vicinity of the bluff was out of the 
question, and now the sparks and flying embers be- 
gan to come down around them, hissing and steam- 
ing as they fell. 

“ We’ve got to do something,” came desperately 
from Owen. “ Let us try our best to reach the is- 
land.” 

“ Yes, put me on the island,” said Bertie eagerly. 

“ Then keep real quiet and I will, Bertie.” 

The little fellow released his hold just a little, and 
Owen struck out with one hand. Dale tried to fol- 
low, but Gertrude could not be quieted, and he gave 
up in despair. 

“ I know what I am going to do,” cried Owen. 
“ Take the boy a minute or two. I’ll get that tree 
trunk over yonder, and then we can ride on that.” 

Despite his struggles, he passed Bertie to Dale and 
struck out for the trunk in question, which lay 
partly in and partly out of the water, a short dis- 
tance up the shore. With the smoke and sparks 
all around him, he caught hold of the trunk and 
floated it. Then he brought it over to where Dale 
was treading water as before. 

“ Now sit on the tree,” said Owen to the little 
ones, and they were made to obey. Then, while 


148 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

Dale held them with one hand and swam with the 
other, Owen got at the rear end of the trunk and 
pushed it ahead toward the island. 

“ I see the boat ! I see the boat ! ” suddenly 
shrieked Bertie. “ ’Take me to the boat ! ” 

He pointed with his finger, and, looking in the 
direction, the young lumbermen saw a steam launch 
gliding over the lake not a great distance off. Both 
gave a yell and waved their arms, and soon the 
launch was puffing in their direction. 

When it came closer, they saw that the craft con- 
tained Mrs. Wilbur, Jasper Nown, a nurse in a 
white apron and cap, and a man who looked after 
the boats belonging to the lodge. 

“ My children ! ” came in a loud cry from the lady. 
“ Oh, are my children safe? ” 

“ Yes, ma’am, they are all right,” answered Owen. 

“ Thank Heaven ! ” she murmured, and when the 
launch came up beside the floating timber, she 
strained each little one to her breast, and kissed them 
over and over again, while the tears of joy streamed 
down her cheeks. 

“ I am so thankful you saved them,” she said. 
“ Come aboard the launch, both of you. Where 
did you find them? ” 

“ We ran away, and they came for us up at Mirror 
Lake,” said little Bertie. “ But, oh, mamma, we 


PURSUED BY THE FOREST FIRE 149 

aren’t going to run away again ! ” and he buried his 
head on her shoulder. 

“ No, no, I’ll never, never run away again,” burst 
out Gertrude. “ Poor Polly is burnt up! ” and she 
too began to cry. 

In a few words, Dale and Owen related how they 
were on their way to a distant lumber camp, and 
how they had discovered the two little runaways 
just about the time the forest fire swept down upon 
them. Then they told of the run to the bluff, and 
what a narrow escape they had had from the flames. 

“ It was Providence that led you to find my 
children,” said Mrs. Wilbur devoutly. “ We have 
been searching for them for hours. They got 
Fanny, here, to go into the lodge for something, and 
then ran away, and we could not imagine where 
they had gone. I was afraid they might have been 
drowned. Then the fire came up, and I did not 
know what to do. Jasper, our man, advised that we 
take to the lake, so here we are on the launch.” 

“ The fire isn’t working around to the lodge just 
now,” answered Owen. “ The wind is shifting to 
where it came from.” 

“ No, no, the whole place will be burnt up for a 
certainty,” came from Jasper Nown. His face 
plainly showed that he was badly scared. 

“ Fortunately the visitors we have been expect- 


150 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

ing have not yet arrived,” went on Mrs. Wilbur. 
“ But there are several more servants at the lodge. 
Do you think we had better go back for them ? ” 

“ Don’t go near that shore ! ” cried Nown. “ We’ll 
all be burnt up, take my word on’t ! ” 

“ Jasper, I was talking to these young men, not 
to you,” said the lady coldly. 

“ Yes, madam, but you know the fire ” 

“ You seem to have lost your head completely 
since the fire started.” 

“ I think it’s safe enough to go back to the lodge,” 
said Owen. 

“ So do I,” added Dale. 

“ They don’t know anything,” interrupted the 
frightened Jasper. “ The sparks ” 

“If you don’t want to go back we can land you 
on the island,” said Mrs. Wilbur. “ I fancy you’ll 
be safe there.” 

But Jasper Nown did not wish to be left alone, 
and so he reluctantly agreed to go back to the lodge, 
and the bow of the launch was turned for that point 
on the lower shore. In the meantime the wind con- 
tinued to shift, and by the time the lodge landing 
was gained they saw that the fire near the cove was 
dying out. 

At the boathouse they found the missing servants, 
who, under the directions of a cool-headed forester, 


PURSUED BY THE FOREST FIRE 151 

had gone back to the lodge for a basket of provisions 
and some blankets. 

“ We were going to take to the other boat, if it 
became necessary,” said the forester. “ But the fire 
has shifted, and if it don’t shift back this place won’t 
be touched.” 

At the boathouse the two young lumbermen re- 
tired for a few minutes, and wrung the water 
from their shirts and emptied their boots. As the 
weather continued hot they suffered nothing from 
their plunge into the lake, nor were the children 
affected. 

As the wind continued to shift, it became certain 
that the lodge would not be touched, and Dale and 
Owen determined to go back to the Paxton camp 
and learn how matters were going on there. 

“ I will let you have horses,” said Mrs. Wilbur, 
and ordered one of her servants to bring out the 
animals. 

“ You see, we’ve got all our belongings at that 
camp,” said Dale. “ We haven’t much, but what 
little there is we shouldn’t like to lose.” 

“ I hope you save everything,” said the lady of 
the lodge, and then she added : “ You must promise 
to come and see me as soon as the fire is out.” 

The steeds were good ones, and fresh, and the 
young lumbermen made fast time when once on the 


152 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

road. The sky overhead still hung heavy with 
smoke, and there was a strong smell of burnt pitch 
in the air. Along one section of the road the flames 
had eaten their way in the form of a circle, and here 
they came upon a number of snakes twisting and 
curling in their death agonies. They gave the 
reptiles a wide berth, and lost no time in leaving 
the locality behind them. 

When they at last dashed into camp, they found 
that the men were all out, cutting down trees and 
plowing up the ground at a corner of the claim, 
for that was the one spot threatened by the fire. 
Stabling the horses they got their axes and spades 
and joined the gang. 

“ Hullo! back, are you ?” shouted Gilroy, who was 
pitching in as hard as anybody. “ Glad to see you. 
We were afraid you’d been pinched by the flare-up ! ” 

“ We came pretty close to it,” answered Owen. 

“ Didn’t get to the other camp, did you ? ” 

“ No,” came from Dale; and that was all that was 
said, for the present needs were too urgent to admit 
of further conversation. 

Working as they had seldom worked before, the 
lumbermen cut down the trees and brushwood, and 
turned up the soil with plows, picks, and 
spades. Then as the fire kept coming closer, Gilroy 
ordered some of the timber blown up with sticks of 


PURSUED BY THE FOREST FIRE 


153 


dynamite — a dangerous proceeding in the midst of 
such hurry and confusion. The sparks kept coming 
on faster and faster, and then came a mad rush of 
wind that sent the fire clear over the line upon which 
they had worked so faithfully. 

“ It’s no use, boys ! ” sang out the foreman. 
“ We’ve got to give it up. Back to the cabin, all 
hands, and let us save what we can down there! ” 


CHAPTER XVII 


THE RAGING OF THE ELEMENTS 

“ This looks as if the whole camp would be swept 
away ! ” cried Owen, as he and Dale hurried back to 
the cabin with the others. 

“ The fire will certainly lick out a big portion of 
the forest,” answered Dale. “ And by the look of 
things, I begin to think we’ll be lucky if we get out 
with a whole skin.” 

“ Perhaps we would have done better had we re- 
mained at the Wilbur lodge.” 

“ Never mind, we have the horses and can go 
back, if the worst comes to the worst.” 

The lumbermen were soon at the cabin, and then, 
amid considerable confusion, the things there were 
packed and loaded on the horses and mules. Dale 
and Owen had a valise apiece, and also a box con- 
taining the precious musical instruments and 
other things, and these they strapped on the Wilbur 
horses. 

The retreat came none too soon, for the wind was 
blowing more wildly than ever, and the sparks and 
154 


THE RAGING OF THE ELEMENTS 1 55 

embers were flying in all directions over their heads, 
scaring the horses and mules, and starting a fresh 
fire wherever they landed. 

“ That’s the end of this tract,” said Andrews sor- 
rowfully. “ It won’t grow up again in fifty 
years.” 

“ It will be a big loss to Mr. Paxton,” answered 
Owen. “ Maybe it will ruin him.” 

“ That wind means a storm,” said Gilroy. “ But 
it aint coming just yet.” 

Away they went, and hardly had they left the 
clearing when they saw the barn and one of the shan- 
ties catch fire, and presently the cabin fol- 
lowed. 

The men started for Pine Tree Lake, but long 
before that body of water was reached the flames 
headed them off and they were forced to turn in 
another direction. They could now hear the dis- 
tant rumble of thunder, and all prayed earnestly that 
the storm might come speedily, and prove of suffi- 
cient strength to drown out the fire. 

“ We are getting hemmed in,” said Gilroy, at last, 
as he called a halt. “ Do you see that flicker of fire 
on Two-Top Mountain? That’s coming this way 
too. It’s a different fire altogether from the one 
back of us.” 

Between the smoke and the clouds in the sky the 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


156 

sun was now no longer visible, and only the confla- 
gration at a distance lit up the weird scene. Again 
came a rumble of thunder, and then a distant flash of 
lightning told them that the storm was coming up 
more quickly than they had anticipated. 

“ If it had only come early this morning," said 
Andrews, as the first drops began to fall. “ Then 
thousands of dollars' worth of lumber would have 
been spared." 

“ Let us be thankful that it has come, even at this 
hour," answered Dale. 

Soon the storm was on them in all its fury, the 
fierce blasts of wind hurling the fire all around them. 
Then came flash after flash of vivid lightning, and 
thunderbolts that seemed to fairly split the heavens. 
A deluge of rain followed, causing the fire to hiss 
and steam and send out huge volumes of black 
smoke that all but suffocated them. The horses and 
mules were tied up with their heads close to the 
ground, and each person of the party hurled himself 
flat. 

It was a grand display of natural elements, but it 
cannot be said that anybody in the party enjoyed it. 
All were grateful for the rain, but as the lightning 
continued, and one tree after another in that vicin- 
ity, was struck down, each was awed into utter 
silence. 


THE RAGING OF THE ELEMENTS 1 57 

At last came a lull and the center of the storm 
passed to the northward. The rain still fell in tor- 
rents, but to this they paid little attention. The 
worst of the smoke was clearing away, allowing 
them to breathe more freely. One by one the men 
arose and began to look after the frightened horses 
and mules. One horse had gotten away, and sped 
into the burning territory, and he was never seen 
again. 

“ Well, I guess this is the last of the fire,” said 
Owen, as he arose. “ This rain looks as if it would 
hold out for the rest of the day.” 

“ What do you think Gilroy will do next? ” ques- 
tioned Dale. 

A consultation was held, and the foreman decided 
to lead the way back to the cabin, as soon as the trail 
was safe. They went into a temporary camp, and 
there, under some wide-spreading trees, untouched 
by the flames, remained until daybreak. 

The next day the rain continued^ although much 
more lightly than before. Some food had been 
brought along, and a hasty breakfast was prepared. 
As soon as they had eaten, the return to the aban- 
doned camp was begun. 

It was discovered that the stables had been com- 
pletely consumed by the fire, along with two shanties 
and a tool house. The cabin still stood, with only 


158 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

a small corner gone. But it was water-soaked, and 
filled with a burnt smell far from pleasant, and 
would need a good deal of cleaning and patching 
before it could again be inhabited. 

“ The timber isn’t as bad as I thought,” said the 
foreman, after an inspection. “ But the loss is 
enough to make Mr. Paxton feel sick ” ; and so it 
proved. 

As there was nothing to do until the owner of the 
place could be heard from, Dale and Owen took the 
next day off to visit the Wilbur lodge, and return 
the horses that had been loaned to them. They 
found the buildings had not been touched by the 
fire, but the flames had eaten well into the forest of 
the preserve, and the beautiful driveway that Jeffer- 
son Wilbur had had made at considerable expense 
was littered with fallen trees and half-burnt shrub- 
bery. 

“We were badly frightened when the storm came 
on,” said Mrs. Wilbur. “ It blew so hard and 
lightened so repeatedly we did not know what 
to make of it.” 

“ Jasper had a fit,” put in little Bertie. “ He was 
so scared he fell in a heap.” 

“ Bertie ! ” said his mother reprovingly, but she 
had to smile, for the little fellow had told the exact 
truth. 


THE RAGING OF THE ELEMENTS 1 59 

“ It’s going to make a big difference up here 
among the loggers,” said Owen. “ There won’t 
be nearly so much cut next season as last.” 

“ That will be hard on you, won’t it? ” questioned 
the lady. 

“We don’t know yet — we’ve got to wait until the 
foreman hears from Mr. Paxton.” 

The pair were invited by Mrs. Wilbur to dine at 
the lodge, but declined, for neither felt that his dress 
was suitable for the occasion. She noticed their 
embarrassment and did not press them, but insisted 
on their coming again when Mr. Wilbur was 
there. 

“ He will wish to thank you, as I have done, for 
saving the children,” said she. 

On the return to the Paxton camp, the two walked 
through the woods to take note of what portion had 
been touched by the fire. They reported their find- 
ings to Gilroy, and the foreman afterward told Mr. 
Paxton. 

When the owner arrived he considered the situa- 
tion for several days, and held a consultation with 
several other timber-land owners. The result of 
this conference was that the building of the road to 
the lake was abandoned; and all work in the camp 
came, for the time being, to an end. 

“ Now we are out of employment again,” 


l6o TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

said Dale to Owen, after they had been paid off. 
“ This job didn’t last near as long as we had ex- 
pected.” 

“ Well, Mr. Paxton isn’t responsible for the forest 
fire, Dale, so we can’t blame him. The question is, 
what shall we do next ? ” 

“ Guess we had better strike down the river and 
look for work — unless you can think of something 
better.” 

“ I’ve half a notion to go out West. It seems to 
me that there are more chances out there than 
here.” 

“ Out West ! Do you mean away out to Oregon 
or Washington ? ” 

“ Not quite as far as that — at first. We might 
go from here to Buffalo, and try to get a job on 
one of the lumber boats to some place in Michi- 
gan or Wisconsin, and then try it there for a 
while. If that didn’t suit, we could push on fur- 
ther.” 

“ Providing our money didn’t give out. It costs 
money to travel.” 

“ Oh, I thought we could work our way for the 
most part. I wasn’t going to touch our bank ac- 
count, or very much of our other savings.” 

“ We’d have to pay the railroad fare to Buffalo — 
although it may be possible to get on a canal boat at 


THE RAGING OF THE ELEMENTS l6l 

Albany, and go through that way. It would take 
some time, but it would be cheap traveling.” 

“ The plan is certainly worth considering, any- 
way/' said Owen; and they talked it over for fully 
an hour. But they reached the conclusion it would 
be best to see what could be done along the Penob- 
scot before leaving Maine. 

A week later found them in Bangor. They had 
made six stops on the way, to find all the lumber 
yards and mills well supplied with hands. At an 
employment agency in Bangor they were told that 
thirty-four men were on the list ahead of them. 

“ This doesn’t look very encouraging,” remarked 
Dale. 

“ I should say it looked very discouraging,” an- 
swered Owen. 

They put up at their former boarding-house, and 
on returning to the place that evening found a let- 
ter there for Owen, from his uncle in Michigan. 
The young lumberman perused the communication 
with much interest, and then read it aloud to his 
chum. The letter ran as follows : 

“ Dear Owen : I take up my pen to find out how 
you are getting on these days. I have been reading 
about the forest fires up the Penobscot, and see by 
one account that the Paxton tract was burnt over. 


1 62 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

Does that throw you out of a job, or are you work- 
ing at one of the mills again? The fellows who 
set the forest on fire ought to be hung, or made to 
pay for damages done. We caught one fellow set- 
ting the timber afire here, and run him out of the 
county in a hurry. He owed me ten dollars for the 
hire of a horse, so I lost on him, as the lumbermen 
did not give him time to settle up. 

“If times get too hard, you had better take my 
advice and come out here. I’ll board you at a rea- 
sonable figure, and if you can do a full man’s work, 
I’ll give you a man’s wages. I am short several 
hands, so now is your chance. But don’t come un- 
less you are willing to work, for I have no place for 
idlers. I am going to start on a new cut of timber 
the first of next month, and it might be I could make 
you the boss of a logging gang, if you knew enough 
to fill the place. 

“ I now own an interest in the Gamoine Lumber 
Company of Michigan, with offices at Detroit, so if 
you come on stop at Detroit and they will tell you 
at the offices just where to find me. I don’t have 
much to do with the office end of the business. I 
get out the timber, and they sell it. We are doing 
fairly well, although prices are not what they might 
be. 

“We are all well, and your Aunt Maria sends 


THE RAGING OF THE ELEMENTS 163 

her love to you. She says she would like you to 
send on some newspapers from her old home if you 
get the chance. 

“ Write and let me know if you think of coming 
before I send that next gang out. 

“ Your affectionate uncle, 

“John W. Hoover.’’ 


CHAPTER XVIII 

BOUND FOR THE GREAT LAKES 

“ There is a chance for you, Owen,” remarked 
Dale, as the reading of the letter was finished. 

“ So it would seem,” was the slow reply. 

“ It isn’t every fellow who has the chance of be- 
coming a foreman.” 

“ That is true. If Mr. Paxton made the offer, 
I would jump at it.” 

“ What’s the matter ? Don’t you want to work 
for your uncle ? ” 

“ You know what I told you before, Dale. Uncle 
Jack Hoover is the hardest man to work for that I 
know of.” 

“ Perhaps he isn’t so bad as he used to be. Any- 
way, you could give him a trial. You wouldn’t 
have to stay with him if you didn’t want to.” 

“And there’s another thing. You ” 

“ Oh, don’t mind me ! ” 

“ I shan’t go without you, Dale.” 

“ Then, I’ll go along. He says he wants more 
hands.” 

Owen’s face brightened. 

164 


BOUND FOR THE GREAT LAKES 165 

“ If you’ll do that I’ll take him up, and write a 
letter to him to-morrow. I’ll tell him to keep places 
open for both of us, and that we want to work to- 
gether.” 

“ It may not suit him to keep us together.” 

“ He’ll have to do it — if he wants us at all. This 
is a combination that can’t be broken, remember.” 

“ All right, then, have your own way. But if 
we’re to be there by the first of next month, we can’t 
stop for canal boats and slow lake lumber boats.” 

“ That is true. Perhaps we can get cut-rate tickets 
to Buffalo or Cleveland, and then get a cheap lake 
trip to Detroit. We can find out about that matter 
after the letter is written.” 

The communication to John Hoover was prepared 
the next morning, immediately after breakfast. 
Owen insisted that Dale help on the letter, and the 
result was that Dale wrote one sheet while his chum 
wrote another. Owen told his uncle what a close 
friend Dale was, and that they meant to work to- 
gether in the future. He added that both had 
worked for Mr. Paxton, and that that lumberman 
had been equally satisfied with their labors. Dale’s 
letter was more in the nature of an application, and 
he referred John Hoover to John Larson, Peter 
Odell, and several others by whom he had been em- 
ployed. 


1 66 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

As the letter was an important one to them, the 
young lumbermen did not drop it into a box, but 
took it direct to the post-office. They were just 
coming from the building when they came face to 
face with Mrs. Wilbur and her husband. 

“ Oh, Jefferson, there they are now ! ” cried Mrs. 
Wilbur. “ How fortunate we are to meet them ! ” 

She caught Dale by the arm and brought him 
and Owen to a halt, and introduced them. In a 
minute more Jefferson Wilbur was shaking each 
by the hand. 

“ We were trying to hunt you up,” said the lumber 
merchant. “ Have you an hour to spare? If you 
have, I’d like both of you to come over to our hotel 
with us. I want to talk to you.” 

“ We can spare you all the time you wish,” said 
Owen, with a laugh. “We are out of work just 
now, so time is no object.” 

“ Yes, I heard Paxton had closed down,” replied 
Jefferson Wilbur. “ So you are out, eh? I thought 
you used to work in one of the sawmills ? ” 

“ We did, but they are all full now,” said Dale. 

The young lumbermen walked to the hotel with 
the merchant, while Mrs. Wilbur left the party 
to do a little shopping. The merchant occupied 
a fine apartment on the second floor front. 

“ I am tremendously glad to meet you,” he said. 


BOUND FOR THE GREAT LAKES 167 

“ My wife has told me the particulars of how you 
rescued my son and daughter from the forest fire. 
It was a brave and noble thing to do.” 

“We didn’t do so very much — at least, no 
more than others would have done,” said Dale, who 
felt bound to say something, since Owen kept si- 
lent. 

“ Oh, yes, you did, young man. You did much 
better than the man I left in charge up there.” 

“ You mean Jasper Nown? ” 

“ Yes. At the first intimation of danger he was 
scared to death, and he was of no particular use to 
anybody. I had to discharge him.” 

“ Well, the combined fire and heavy storm were 
enough to scare anybody,” put in Owen. “ The 
lightning laid low more than one big tree around 
there.” 

“ So I was told. It was a bad combination, al- 
though the fire, if left alone, might have been worse. 
My preserve is about half ruined, and my wife says 
she doubts if she will care to go back there another 
season.” 

There was a pause, and Jefferson Wilbur looked 
at both Dale and Owen hesitatingly. 

“ I — er — I feel that I ought to do something for 
both of you,” he went on. “ I don’t know exactly 
how you feel about it, but ” 


l68 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

“ We don’t expect anything,” came from both of 
the young lumbermen. 

“ I don’t suppose you do — you are not that kind ; I 
can tell that by your looks.” 

“ You’ve given us more than was coming to 
us already,” added Dale. 

“ But I want to do something, I tell you. My 
children are very dear to me, and if they had been 
burnt up ” Mr. Wilbur could not finish. 

There was an awkward pause, neither Dale nor 
Owen knowing what to say. If the truth must be 
told, each wished he was out on the street again, so 
he might get away from the gentleman, who seemed 
bound to reward them for their services. 

“ You’re out of work, you say,” went on Jefferson 
Wilbur. “ As you know, I own an interest in a lum- 
ber company operating in Oregon. How would 
you like to go out there ? ” 

“ To Oregon ! ” repeated the pair. 

“ Yes. I think I could give you steady situa- 
tions at good wages, if you cared to go. Of course 
it is a long distance from here, but the openings are 
better, I think, than they are here.” 

“ I might go, if Owen would go too,” came from 
Dale. “ But we have just sent a letter to his uncle in 
Michigan, saying we might come out there to work 
for him.” 


BOUND FOR THE GREAT LAKES 169 

“ Then your uncle is a lumber dealer? ” said Jef- 
ferson Wilbur, turning to Owen. 

“ Yes. He owns several tracts of land in Michi- 
gan, and has an interest in the Gamoine Lumber 
Company.” 

“ I have heard of that concern. Well, in that 
event you wouldn’t care to go to Oregon.” Jeffer- 
son Wilbur looked disappointed. 

“ But we might go later,” put in Dale. 

“ Very well. Whenever you are at liberty to go, 
let me know, and I will do what I can for you. 
When do you think you will start for Michigan, if 
you go at all ? ” 

“ As soon as we hear from my uncle,” answered 
Owen. 

“ I am going to stay here several days, and maybe 
a week. Will you come and see me again before 
you go away ? ” 

“ If you wish it,” said Dale. 

More conversation followed, and then they bid Mr. 
Wilbur good-day and left. As they walked away 
the lumber merchant looked after them thoughtfully. 

“ Two good young men,” was his mental com- 
ment. “ They don’t want to be rewarded, and if I 
had offered them money they would have refused it. 
I’ll have to keep them in mind and square up some 
other way.” 


]?D TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

It was not until the next morning that Dale re- 
membered with deep regret that he had wished to 
ask Jefferson Wilbur about the mining claim in 
Oregon, 

“ What a fool I was not to think of it,” he said 
to his chum. “ I have the papers right here, too.” 

“ Better go up and see him this morning.” 

“ No, I don’t care to do that.” 

“Why not?” 

“ He may think that I am hanging around for a 
reward, and I don’t want a cent,” answered Dale. 

Before the end of the week a letter came from 
John Hoover, intended for both Dale and Owen. It 
was a long communication, but the gist of it was 
that they might come on at once, and Owen’s uncle 
would give each a trial, Owen as a foreman, at thirty 
dollars a month, and Dale as a gang hand, at 
twenty dollars a month, with board. If agreeable, 
they were to send a telegram of acceptance. 

“ That isn’t so bad,” said Dale. 

“ He might have offered you a little more,” replied 
Owen. 

“ Perhaps he wants to see what we are made of 
first.” 

“ Then you are willing to go at that ? ” 

“ We might as well. We haven’t got to stay 
with him, you know, and something is better 


BOUND FOR THE GREAT LAKES 171 

than nothing, at the start,” added Dale, who was in- 
tensely practical. 

So the telegram was sent without further delay, 
after which the pair began to look around for the 
cheapest method of getting to Detroit. From a man 
who had traveled a good deal, they learned that 
the cheapest and quickest way for them would be to 
take a regular steamer from Bangor to Boston. Here 
they could change to a train running through Al- 
bany to Buffalo, and from Buffalo they could get a 
lake steamer direct for their destination. 

“ You won’t lose much time that way,” said the 
traveler, “ and you'll save quite a few dollars on car- 
fare,” and so it proved. 

As soon as passage was secured on the steamer 
bound for Boston, the young lumbermen dressed in 
their best and started to pay the promised call on Jef- 
ferson Wilbur. This time Dale carried the mining- 
claim papers with him, resolved to get some informa- 
tion concerning them if it was possible to do so. 

But at the hotel a disappointment awaited them. 

“ Sorry,” said the clerk at the desk. “ But Mr. 
Wilbur got a telegram last night that seemed to up- 
set him, and he and his wife left early this morning.” 

“ Did he say where he was going?” questioned 
Owen. 

“ He said something about making connections 


172 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


for New York and the West. I fancy he and his 
wife went to New York.” 

“ Thank you,” said Owen, and he and Dale walked 
away. Dale was much disappointed, but said noth- 
ing, for talking would not have mended the matter. 

“ I suppose he was so upset he forgot all about 
us,” said Owen. “ I wonder what it was all 
about?” 

“ Something wrong in business, most likely. 
These big dealers are always up to something new, 
and when a thing goes wrong they have to hustle to 
make it come out right.” 

That night found them on the steamer bound 
down the river. This was a journey they had taken 
before, still it retained sufficient novelty to be pleas- 
ing, and they sat up until late watching the sights in 
the moonlight. 

The next day found them on the bosom of the 
Atlantic, and the morning following saw them in 
Boston. Here they managed to procure two cut-rate 
tickets for Buffalo from a broker, and less than an 
hour after they were on a train, being whirled west- 
ward to new fields of industry and fortune. 


CHAPTER XIX 

A TALK ON THE TRAIN 

The ride over the hills and through the valleys 
of New England, on the express train, was thor- 
oughly enjoyed by Dale and Owen, and at Albany 
they stopped long enough to catch a flying glimpse 
of the State capital of New York. Then they 
boarded another train, and went whirling through 
the beautiful Mohawk Valley, westward, until, just 
eighteen hours after leaving the Hub, they rolled 
into the big depot at Buffalo, and found themselves 
in this most eastern city of the Great Lakes. 

“ So much of the journey done,” said Dale, as 
they walked from the depot, valises in hand. 

“ We must have a look around here before we go 
any further,” replied Owen. “ We may never get to 
this city again.” 

It was not long before they found themselves 
on the main street of the city. Almost the first 
thing they noticed was a trolley car marked Niagara 
Falls. 

“ We must visit the Falls ! ” cried Dale. “ We 

can’t afford to miss that, anyhow ! ” And finding 
173 


174 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

that the fare was a moderate one, they hopped on the 
car, and went spinning northward to this great 
Mecca of American tourists. They spent two hours 
at the Falls, visiting Goat Island and the Sisters, and 
also the Canadian shore, and then returned to Buf- 
falo more than satisfied with the little side trip thus 
experienced. 

By consulting a local paper, they found that they 
could get a lake boat for Detroit that night, and 
also one in the morning. 

“ Let us go in the morning, when we can see some- 
thing, M said Owen, and so it was agreed. 

With a stop at Cleveland, the journey from Buf- 
falo to Detroit is about three hundred miles. The 
steamer was a commodious one, and the furnishings 
of the cabin and the dining room caused both of 
the young lumbermen to stare. 

“ I must say I didn’t expect to find anything quite 
as fine as this,” declared Owen. “ Why, it’s quite 
as good as anything we have East.” 

The stop at Cleveland was also full of interest, and 
the young lumbermen took a brief glance at the busi- 
ness portion of the town and the shipping. Lumber 
boats were everywhere in evidence, and these in- 
terested them as much as anything else. 

“ The lumber trade of the Lakes must be enor- 
mous,” said Dale. “ Just see those schooners and 


A TALK ON THE TRAIN I 75 

other craft — how they are piled up! I never saw 
anything like it, even at Bangor.” 

So far the weather had proved fine, but as night 
came on a cold rain set in, which forced them to stay 
in the cabin, so they saw but little as the steamer 
turned into the Detroit River, and made the run up 
to the city of that name. 

“ Here we are at last ! ” exclaimed Owen, as they 
went ashore in a stream of people. “ I guess the 
best thing we can do is to get out of the wet.” 

“Cab! Hack! Have a carriage, sir?” came 
from a dozen cabmen, as they pushed forward. 
“ Carry your baggage, mister ? ” And Owen felt 
a boy of fifteen catch hold of his valise. 

“ No, I’ll carry that myself,” said Owen. “ And 
I don’t want a carriage,” he went on, to the cab- 
men. 

They were soon out of the jam, and on the way to 
a hotel that John Hoover had mentioned in his last 
letter. This was not far away, and soon they had 
secured a room and were retiring, worn out from 
the trip, but still happy and with hopes of the high- 
est. 

“ I feel stiffer than if I’d been rollings logs all 
day,” said Dale, as he leaped up the next morning. 
“ How is it with you, Owen? ” 

“ My head is dizzy from looking at so much,” was 


176 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

the answer. “ Feels like it did when I went to that 
moving-picture show that once came to Spogtown. 
The pictures quivered so much that I got to blinking 
with ’em, and the boys said I didn’t stop the blinking 
for two days.” 

“ Do you suppose your uncle is in town ? ” 

“ I’m sure I don’t know. We can get breakfast, 
spruce up a bit, and then hunt up the offices of the 
lumber company he spoke about.” 

The rain of the night before had cleared away, 
leaving the sky bright and beautiful. Having break- 
fasted, they walked down the broad street until they 
came to a cross street, which was the one they wanted. 
Two squares away stood the building in which the 
lumber company’s offices were located, on the third 
floor. They went up in the elevator, and entering 
the first of the rooms asked for Mr. John Hoover. 

“ Not here, and won’t be to-day,” was the answer 
of a clerk. 

“ Did he leave any word for me? ” went on Owen. 
“ I am his nephew, Owen Webb, from Bangor, 
Me.” 

“ Oh ! ” The manner of the clerk changed. 
“ Step in, Mr. Webb. Yes, sir, he left a note for 
you. I’ll get it.” 

“ He must think we’re of some importance, by 
the way he changed his face when I mentioned my 


A TALK ON THE TRAIN 1 77 

name,” whispered Owen. “ I guess Uncle Jack cuts 
something of a figure here.” 

The note was delivered, and was found to con- 
tain directions for coming up to one of the lumber 
camps at once. This camp was located twenty miles 
beyond the village of Munvale, and to get to it 
they had to take a train northward to the Saginaw 
River. 

“ That's quite a little trip in itself,” said Dale. 
“ But it will be the last, I suppose, for some time 
to come.” 

They had to wait until the middle of the afternoon 
for a train to the right station. When it did come, 
it was crowded, and they had to stand up part of 
the way. But later on the passengers thinned out, 
and they got a seat together near the end of the car. 

At one station several men who looked as if they 
were lumbermen got aboard, and by their conversa- 
tion Dale and Owen soon learned that they were 
bound for a camp not far from that run by John 
Hoover. 

“ I’m glad I’m not going to Jack Hoover's 
outfit,” one of the men said, during the course of the 
conversation. 

“ You're right, Glassen,” said another. “ He's a 
pretty hard taskmaster, and no mistake.” 

“ I understand Henshaw left him last week,” put 


178 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

in a third of the crowd. “ He said he wasn’t going 
to do two days’ work in one day, for any man.” 

“ Hoover never knows when to let up,” went 
on the first speaker. “ Three months of it was 
enough for me. By the way, what became of 
Risley, who used to be one of his foremen ? ” And 
then the talk drifted in another direction. 

Dale and Owen looked at each other in a sugges- 
tive manner. Then the older of the pair leaned 
forward. 

“Doesn’t look encouraging, does it?” he whis- 
pered. “ I guess you won’t thank me for bringing 
you to this place.” 

“ I’m sure I don’t blame you, Owen. Besides, we 
can go elsewhere, you know.” 

By the time the young lumbermen reached the 
station at which they were to stop, the train was 
nearly empty. It was dark, and only half a dozen 
people were at the depot. Not far away was a gen- 
eral store and a blacksmith shop, with a church, and 
about a dozen cottages, and that was all. 

“ Which way next ? ” asked Dale. 

“ I’ll see if my uncle is anywhere about,” re- 
turned Owen. 

He walked around the depot, and then over to the 
general store, and seeing nobody who looked famil- 
iar, asked the station master if he had seen Mr. 


A TALK ON THE TRAIN 1 79 

John Hoover. For a minute the man looked puz- 
zled, then he grinned. 

“ You mean old Holdfast Hoover,” he replied. 
“ He’s a boss lumberman.” 

“ Yes, but his first name is John.” 

“ Perhaps it was ; but they call him Holdfast here, 
he’s so tight with his money. No, he isn’t around, 
but I saw his man, Sandy, here a minute ago, with a 
wagon. There he is now.” 

The station master pointed to a tall, thin man, 
who sat on the seat of a rough lumber wagon, chew- 
ing tobacco vigorously. To the wagon were at- 
tached a team of lean and tired-looking horses. 

“ Are you Mr. John Hoover’s man?” asked 
Owen, striding up. 

“ That’s me,” was the slow answer. “ Reckon 
you are his nevvy, aint you ? ” 

“I am, and this is the young man who came out 
here with me.” 

“ I’m a- waitin’ for you. Let see, your name’s 
Webb, aint it? ” 

“ Yes, Owen Webb, and this is Dale Bradford.” 

“ My name’s Sandy Hopgood, although I aint no 
good on the hop at all.” The man grinned at his 
little joke. “Got your outfits with you? If you 
have we’ll dump ’em in the wagon and start. We’ve 
got nigh on to twenty miles between us an’ a supper 


i8o 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


table, an’ if you’re too long Mrs. Hoover won’t keep 
a blessed thing a- waitin’ for you.” 

“ In that case we’d better get something to eat be- 
fore we start,” put in Dale, who was already hungry. 

“ Aint no hotel around here.” 

“ Then we’ll get some crackers and cheese, or 
something else, at the store,” said Owen. “ Mr. 
Hopgood, come and have lunch with us.” 

“ Well — er — I wouldn’t mind, but the' fact is I — 
er — I didn’t bring no money with me.” 

“ That’s all right — we’ll stand for it.” 

“Will you? Thanks; then I’ll go.” 

The man lumbered from the wagon and tied up 
his team. They were soon in the general store, and 
here obtained a satisfactory spread of crackers, 
cheese, chipped beef, and canned stuff, which the 
storekeeper let them eat at a table in a back room. 

“ Blame me if that aint as good a supper as I’ve 
had in a long time,” was Sandy Hopgood’s com- 
ment, after he had finished the third of a pie Dale 
had purchased. “ It’s a heap sight better nor going 
home for the meal.” 

“Does Mrs. Hoover run the table?” asked 
Dale. 

“ Kind of — it runs itself mostly.” Sandy Hop- 
good closed one eye suggestively. “ You won’t git 
fat up to our camp, let me tell you that.” 


A TALK ON THE TRAIN l8l 

When the man had departed to bring around his 
turnout, Owen motioned to Dale. 

“ I’m going to take a few eatables along,” he 
said. “ Just put the things that are in my satchel in 
with your own, and then we can fill mine up with 
food enough to last two or three days. I’m not 
going to starve.” 

This was agreed to, and by the time Sandy Hop- 
good called for them, they had Owen’s valise filled 
with all sorts of things to eat. The storekeeper 
smiled when he saw them stowing the articles away. 

“ Reckon you know your man,” he said suggest- 
ively. 

“ Not exactly, but we’ve heard something,” an- 
swered Dale. 

“ Well, you’ll hear more before you come away,” 
was the storekeeper’s comment. “ Shouldn’t wonder 
but what I’ll see you again by the time your first 
month is up.” 

“ Or before,” put in Owen, with a short, hard 
laugh. Then Sandy Hopgood drove up, and they 
put their trunks into the wagon and followed with 
their valises. 

“ Now to see what we will see,” remarked Dale, 
as lightly as he could. But his heart was heavy, 
for he realized that the prospect was far from en- 
couraging. 


CHAPTER XX 

AT JOHN HOOVER’S HOME 

The road was dark as well as rough, and as the 
lumber wagon bumped along over the stones and 
tree roots, neither Dale nor Owen had much to say. 
Each was busy with his thoughts, wondering how 
they would be received by John Hoover and his 
wife, and what would be the outcome of this venture 
into the Michigan lumber district. 

“ We’re ’bout half there now,” said Sandy Hop- 
good, after a long and steady pull over hills and 
through hollows. “ But the wust part of the road 
is to come.” And so it proved. The wagon jounced 
along as if ready to fall to pieces at any moment, 
and more than once Dale and Owen, who had both 
noticed the shabby harness, imagined that straps and 
buckles would fly in all directions. But, old and 
worn as it was, the turnout held together, and at 
last they caught sight of a light ahead, and the 
driver announced that they would soon be at their 
destination. 

The Hoover camp consisted of half a dozen build- 
ings, built on either side of a muddy roadway lead- 

182 



“ Have ye got ’em ? ” he demanded, in a shrill voice. 
Page 183 . 


































» 


































































AT JOHN HOOVER’S HOME 183 

ing to a creek that flowed into the Saginaw River. 
Beyond the cabins were two stables and a tool shed. 
Down close to the river was a sawmill, also belong- 
ing to John Hoover. All the buildings were old and 
dilapidated, but the owner of the camp did not 
believe in spending money to fix them up. 

As the wagon came up to the cabins, the door of 
one of the buildings was thrown open, and a man 
came out, lantern in hand. 

“ Have ye got ’em ? ” he demanded, in a shrill 
voice. 

“ Yes, Uncle Jack, I’m here! ” sang out Owen, as 
cheerily as he could. And leaping down, he stepped 
forward and grasped his relative by the hand. 

“ Been a long time getting here,” grumbled John 
Hoover, to the driver. “ I could have made the dis- 
tance in an hour less.” 

“We had to stop a while in town,” replied Sandy 
Hopgood, but he did not mention the reason. 

“Are you glad to see me, Uncle Jack?” de- 
manded Owen. 

“ Why, I guess so, Owen. Depends on how you 
are going to go to work, now you are here. I must 
say you look tall and strong.” John Hoover held up 
the lantern toward Dale. “ Is this the other chap? ” 

“ Yes, this is Dale Bradford. Dale, this is Mr. 
Hoover.” 


1 84 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

“ Don’t stand out there, John Hoover! ” came in 
a shrill feminine voice from the kitchen of the cabin. 
“ Bring ’em in here right away. I’ve waited as long 
as I’m a-going to wait with this supper.” And then 
Mrs. Hoover, a short, fat woman, appeared, her 
sleeves rolled up, and her hands resting on her hips. 

“ Thank you, but we’ve had supper, Aunt Maria,” 
answered Owen, in a voice that was a trifle cold. 

“ Had supper ? Where did you get it ? ” 

u We stopped at the general store down by the 
depot. We were hungry, and dicin’ t want to wait 
until we got here.” 

“My! my! how extravagant — and me waiting 
with supper all the time. Well, if you don’t want 
anything, I’ll put the things away, and save ’em.” 
And without further ceremony the woman bustled 
about to clear the table. 

It had been arranged by John Hoover that Owen 
and Dale should occupy a small corner room of the 
house. All the other hands, including Sandy, lived 
in the Other cabins, and had their meals there. But 
Owen was to consider himself a member of the 
Hoover household, and his chum was to do like- 
wise. 

“ I didn’t guess you’d want to be parted,” said 
John Hoover. “ And the room is plenty big enough 
for two.” 


AT JOHN HOOVER’S HOME 185 

“ Yes, we prefer to remain together,” answered 
Owen. 

The reception had been a chilling one, and the 
chill did not wear away when the pair were seated 
in the plainly furnished living room. The owner 
of the camp asked both a great number of questions 
about what they had done in Maine, and seemed 
very anxious to find out if each could really do a 
full man’s work. 

“ I aint paying no shirkers in my camp,” said 
John Hoover. “ Every man who gets a full day’s 
pay must work for it.” 

“ You’d better let ’em go to bed now, John,” said 
his wife. “ They’ve traveled so much that if you 
don’t they won’t be worth a cent for work to- 
morrow — and I suppose you’re going to start ’em 
right off, aint you ? ” 

“ To be sure,” answered the husband. “ I aint 
wasting a whole day for nothing.” 

The bedroom turned over to the young lumber- 
men was furnished with nothing but a wide bunk, 
and a long, rough bench. On one wall hung a 
swinging shelf made of a rough board three feet 
long. There was nothing on the floor, and the 
mattress in the bunk was old and smelt musty. 
For a light they were given about an inch of 
a tallow candle stuck on top of a tin candlestick. 


1 86 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ This beats the hotels, doesn’t it?” remarked 
Owen sarcastically. “ Dale, I hope you don’t re- 
main awake to-night thinking of your elegant sur- 
roundings.” 

“ Well, I suppose it might be worse — if somebody 
tried real hard to make it so,” responded Dale 
dryly. 

“ They’d have to try mighty hard, I can tell you 
that. Do you know how long this will suit me? ” 

“ About ten years.” 

“ About ten hours.” 

“ Why, you act as if you were disappointed.” 

“ Oh, I’m not disappointed at all ; I’m simply 
brimming over with joy; the place is so good I don’t 
think I can stand it. If I stay too long I’ll get lazy 
doing nothing, and living on the fat of the land.” 

After this both burst into a low, merry laugh, 
Each felt the disappointment keenly, but both were 
resolved to make the best of it, and to make a new 
move at the first opportunity. 

John Hoover and his wife, retiring in an adja- 
cent room, heard the laugh and listened with much 
satisfaction. 

“ They must like the place,” said the master of 
the camp. “ I’m glad on it. I was afraid they’d be 
stuck up, after being in Bangor, Boston, and other 
big towns.” 


AT JOHN HOOVER’S HOME 187 

“ Oh, they know a good thing when they see it,” 
answered his wife. “ Perhaps they didn’t have no 
mattress in them other camps, and no light to go to 
bed by. By and by I’m a-goin’ to save on them 
candles. Wade raised a cent a pound on the cost 
of ’em.” 

“ Yes, we can’t afford to spend extra money on 
’em, even if one of ’em is my nephew,” responded 
John Hoover. 

The young lumbermen were worn out with their 
journey, and soon fell asleep. At five o’clock the 
master of the camp pounded on their door and 
aroused them. 

“ Come, get up! ” he called. “ Breakfast will be 
ready in ten minutes. You’ll find a wash basin 
and towel outside of the kitchen door.” 

They dressed and came out, to find Mrs. Hoover 
hard at work in the kitchen, preparing a morning 
meal of salt mackerel, bread and butter, and coffee. 
They washed up outside as directed, and then sat 
down. 

Now Dale and Owen had had many poor meals 
at one place and another, but nothing which was 
worse than this. The fish was old and tough, the 
bread stale, the butter strong, and the coffee of the 
rank sort, worth twelve or fourteen cents a pound. 
As a dainty, there were several slices of ginger- 


i88 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


bread, but they looked so old and dried-up that 
neither of the young lumbermen cared to touch 
them. 

“ You don’t seem to be hungry,” remarked Mrs. 
Hopver, as she watched them dallying with the 
food. 

“ Not as hungry as I might be,” answered Dale. 

“ You want to eat up. It makes a boy good and 
strong, and fit for a proper day’s work.” 

The breakfast was soon over, and then John 
Hoover said he would take them out, introduce them 
to some of the men, and show them what they were 
to do. Unobserved, they slipped into their room, 
and put some crackers in their pockets, with some 
chipped beef in a paper, to eat when they got the 
chance, for the breakfast furnished by Mrs. Hoover 
had by no means satisfied them. 

Inside of an hour they were hard at work, Owen 
as foreman of a gang of twelve men, including 
Dale. They learned that the gang had originally 
consisted of twenty hands, but eight men had left, to 
seek employment elsewhere. 

“ And I am going next Saturday,” said the man 
who gave out this information. “ My time’s up, 
and I don’t want any more of this camp.” 

The men worked hard, and Owen soon learned 
that he was expected to not only direct them, but do 


AT JOHN HOOVER’S HOME l8g 

as much cutting as anybody. From time to time 
John Hoover appeared, going from one gang of 
the camp to another, and urging everybody to “work 
up there,” and finding great fault if the trees did 
not come down, or were not moved, as speedily as 
he expected. And when one of the hands hurt his 
foot, he would not allow the fellow to knock off and 
have the hurt attended to, but told him to wait until 
the sawmill whistle blew for the noon meal. 

“ That’s your time,” he said. “ This time is mine, 
and I want you to work.” 

“ That was hard-hearted,” said Dale, when he and 
Owen were alone. 

“ You are right,” answered Owen. “ He’s the 
meanest man I ever met, and I’m sorry he is an 
uncle of mine.” 

By the time night came the young lumbermen 
were more than ready to quit. John Hoover had 
proved a regular slave driver, and neither wondered 
that his men were deserting him before the season 
was at an end. 

“ About two months of this would use me up,” 
said Dale. “ I never felt so tired from a single 
day’s work in my life.” 

“ It’s his continual nagging that does it, Dale. 
If he wouldn’t be at the men all the time they might 
do every bit as much, and feel a good deal better 


190 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

over it. As it is they are surly, and they won’t do 
a hand’s turn more than they have to.” And Owen 
was right. 

The next day it rained, but they went out as 
before, John Hoover declaring that men could cut 
and move timber just as well in the wet as when 
the sun shone. One man, who had a heavy cold, 
demurred, and a regular quarrel ensued, first con- 
cerning the work and then about wages. At last 
the man packed his box and went off, declaring that 
he would sue the camp owner if he did not get the 
wages that were coming to him. 

The rainy weather made Mrs. Hoover irritable, 
and she scolded, not only her husband, but also the 
young lumbermen, for tracking the mud into the 
living room. 

“ I’ve got enough work to do without clearing up 
such dirt ! ” she snapped to her nephew. “ If you 
bring any more in you’ll not get a mouthful to eat.” 

“ I guess I’ll get what’s coming to me, Aunt 
Maria,” said Owen, whose temper had reached the 
danger point. 

“ No, you shan’t have a thing.” 

“ Then I’ll go down to one of the other cabins 
and live.” 

“ And I’ll go with Owen,” put in Dale. “ I’m 
tired of this place, anyway.” 


AT JOHN HOOVER’S HOME 191 

At this both John Hoover and his wife stared at 
the two young lumbermen in amazement. 

“Do yon mean to say you aint satisfied here?” 
gasped the master of the camp. 

“ No, I am not, Uncle Jack/’ said Owen bravely. 
“ And we might as well come to an understanding 
at once. I’m going to look around for another job, 
and as soon as I can find it I’m going to leave your 
employ.” 


CHAPTER XXI 


AN UNSIGNED CONTRACT 

For the moment after Owen made the declara- 
tion that he was going to leave his uncle and his 
aunt, the pair were speechless with amazement 
and anger. 

“Going to leave?” said John Hoover slowly. 
“ Going to leave ? ” 

“ That is what I said, Uncle Jack.” 

“ And I’m going with him,” said Dale. 

“To hear them — after all we have done for 
them!” ejaculated Mrs. Hoover, her eyes flashing 
fire. 

“ I don't think you have done so very much for 
us,” said Dale, who felt it his duty to take his full 
share of whatever blame was coming. 

“ Don’t you, now ? ” sneered the lady of the cabin. 
“ I suppose I’ve cooked for you just for the 
fun of it.” 

“ It was the worst cooking I ever had to put up 
with.” 

“You aint going to leave me, nohow!” fumed 
John Hoover. “ You’ve contracted to stay here for 


19a 


AN UNSIGNED CONTRACT 


193 


the season, and you’ve got to stay. You aint going 
to leave me in a hole — with so much timber con- 
tracted for.” 

“We are not under contract with you, Mr. 
Hoover. You said in your letter that you would 
give us a trial, and we wrote back that we’d come on 
for a trial. If our work hadn’t suited, you would 
have discharged us in double-quick order.” 

“ Well, I’d have that right.” 

“ Exactly, and we haye the right to go away too.” 

“ To be sure we have,” came from Owen. 

“ I don’t see it that way at all,” roared the claim 
owner. “ If I want to keep you, it is your duty 
to stay.” 

“ And my cookin’ is good enough for anybody,” 
came shrilly from his wife. “ I’ve given you more 
than you deserve.” 

A perfect war of words followed, and in the end 
Mrs. Hoover ordered both of the young lumber- 
men “ to pack their traps an’ git out to once,” or 
she’d “ go after ’em with a broom.” 

“ Now, Maria, let me settle this,” interposed John 
Hoover, who did not want to lose them. “ They can 
board at one of the other cabins, but they must stay 
the season out.” 

“ I shan’t stay another day,” replied Dale. “ I am 
going away inside of the next hour.” 


194 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

“ Then I shan't pay you a cent/’ snarled John 
Hoover. 

“ Very well, you can keep the money.” 

“ I’m going with Dale,” said Owen. “ If you are 
mean enough to keep what wages are coming to us, 
you are welcome to the amount, Uncle Jack.” 

After this both Dale and Owen refused to talk. 
Both packed their belongings, and soon had them 
out of the cabin. As John Hoover refused to trans- 
port either them or their baggage to the rail- 
road station, they, with the assistance of two men 
who were not afraid to lend a hand, took their 
trunks and valises down the creek to the river. John 
Hoover followed them, and begged them to come 
back, but they paid no attention to him, and soon 
after secured passage on a lumber barge bound for 
Saginaw. 

“ Well, we are well out of that,” declared Dale, 
when on the way. “ That is an experience I don’t 
care to repeat.” 

“ I’m afraid I’m responsible,” began Owen, 
when his chum stopped him. 

“ Not at all, Owen. We would have gone even if 
Hoover wasn’t a relative of yours. I think I’d cast 
him off,” and Dale laughed. 

“ Well, you can consider him cast off,” answered 
Owen, and then he laughed too. 


AN UNSIGNED CONTRACT 


195 


From the boatman both learned of the many 
troubles John Hoover had had with his help, and of 
how many had deserted him every season for years. 

“ The men all over Michigan are getting to know 
him,” said the boatman, “ and as a consequence, the 
only help he can get is from outside places.” 

The young lumbermen were surprised to find Sag- 
inaw a large and bustling city, given over largely to 
the lumber and salt trade. They soon found a cheap 
hotel, and here indulged in the first square meal they 
had had since leaving Detroit. 

“ We might as well take it easy for a few days,” 
said Owen. “ Our money will carry us through, 
and there is no need of our rushing into another job 
until we are sure of what we are doing.” 

The sights around Saginaw were not many, but it 
pleased them to walk around the lumber yards, and 
around the docks, where a number of lake vessels 
were loading with lumber for Detroit, Cleveland, 
and other points. 

“We might get a passage on one of those boats 
bound for Detroit,” said Owen. “ Let us ask the 
captain about it.” And this they did, and secured 
passage for little more than the price of meals, the 
master of the schooner being glad to have them 
along, as they said they would help on the cargo in 
case of rough weather. 


196 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

On the evening before the schooner was to sail 
Dale and Owen had their trunks and valises taken on 
board, and then started out for a final look at the 
town. 

“ We may never get here again,” said Dale. “ So 
we may as well take in everything worth see- 
ing.” 

The young lumbermen had not gone far, however, 
before it began to rain. To get in out of the wet, 
they entered a restaurant, attached to a small hotel, 
where they ordered a glass of milk and a piece 
of pie. 

Next to the dining room was the smoking room, 
and looking into this they were surprised to see 
John Hoover, sitting there in company with several 
individuals who looked like lumbermen. 

“ I’ll wager he is after those men,” whispered 
Owen. “ Let us listen to what he has to say.” 

They took another table which was close to a 
large doorway. As John Hoover’s back was to- 
ward them, the lumberman did not notice them. 

“ You’ll be perfectly satisfied at my place,” 
Hoover was saying. “ All of my men like it very 
much.” 

“ Oh, listen to that ! ” said Dale, in a low voice. 
“ How can he be so barefaced ? ” 

“ I heard a little about poor eating up there,” said 


AN UNSIGNED CONTRACT I97 

one of the lumbermen. “ Now, I allow as how I 
like good feed.” 

“ You won’t be disappointed, Martin. Just you 
sign a contract with me and you’ll be perfectly sat- 
isfied, and you can go up to the camp in the 
morning.” 

“ I never signed a contract before,” said another 
of the lumbermen cautiously. 

“ Oh, that don’t amount to much, Bond,” an- 
swered John Hoover lightly. “ But our company 
requires it, that’s all.” 

“ I reckon it’s O. K., boys,” put in a fourth lum- 
berman. “We might as well sign and have done 
with it.” 

“ That’s the talk,” said John Hoover eagerly. 
“ Let’s have the business over with, and I’ll stand 
treat at the bar.” 

He drew a folded paper from his pocket and asked 
for the use of the pen and ink at the desk. 

Just at that moment two lumbermen came in. 
Tjhe older was a man Dale and Owen had met at 
the camp — one of the fellows who had helped them 
to take their trunks to the river. 

“ Hullo, Martin, what’s up here? ” he called out. 

“This aint none of your business, Peterson,” 
cried John Hoover, in alarm. 

“ We’re going to contract for the rest of the 


198 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

season with Hoover,” answered the lumberman 
named Martin. 

“ Don’t you do it, boys.” 

“ Why not ? ” demanded the four, simultane- 
ously. 

“ If you do, you’ll be sorry for it.” 

“ You clear out! ” roared John Hoover, his face 
growing as red as a beet. “ This is my business 
affair, you haven’t any right to interfere.” 

“ But I’ll take the right,” returned the newcomer. 
“ Why, only two days ago I helped two young fel- 
lows to get away. They said they wouldn’t stand it 
up to the camp. I’m going to leave myself as soon 
as my month is up.” 

“You’re telling what aint so!” stormed John 
Hoover. 

“ Aint I telling the truth ? ” 

“ No.” 

" I am — and I can prove it,” said the newcomer. 

He pointed to where Dale and Owen were sit- 
ting. John Hoover looked in the direction and 
started. 

“ Wha — where did they come from?” 

“ From your camp. If you don’t believe it, boys, 
ask the young fellows themselves.” 

“ We will,” said Bond, and called to Dale and 
Owen. “ Please come here a minute, will you? ” 


AN UNSIGNED CONTRACT 199 

“ Certainly,” said Owen, and moved forward, fol- 
lowed by Dale. 

“ Did you come from Hoover’s camp a couple of 
days ago? ” 

“ We did,” answered Owen. 

“ Why did you leave? ” 

“ See here, this aint fair, nohow ! ” spluttered the 
camp owner. 

“And why not?” asked two of the lumber- 
men. 

“We want to know the truth of this,” added 
Martin. 

“We left because we didn’t want to work for Mr. 
Hoover any longer,” said Dale. “ He is a regular 
slave driver, and the food he deals out isn’t fit for a 
prisoner.” 

The men turned to Owen. 

“ Is that the truth, young fellow? ” 

“ The food was certainly poor,” answered Owen. 
" And he worked me harder than I ever worked 
before, and I’ve done some pretty hard hustling in 
the woods of Maine.” 

“ Did you leave on account of the work and the 
poor food ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“That’s enough, then; I don’t sign,” came from 
Bond. 


200 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ Nor I,” said Martin. “ I said I’d heard about 
poor feed up there.” 

“ See here ! ” stormed John Hoover, turning to 
Owen and Dale. “ What do you mean by spoiling 
my business? I’ve a good mind to have the law 
on you ! ” 

“ These men only asked us some auestions, and we 
told the truth,” answered Dale. He turned to the 
others. “ Because we wouldn’t stay the season out 
he wouldn’t pay us a cent,” he went on. 

“ That was mighty mean,” answered Bond. 

“ How are you fixed? ” said Martin. “ Perhaps 
we can help you a bit. One good turn deserves an- 
other, they say.” 

“ Oh, we’re not suffering, thank you,” replied 
Dale. “ But we told you this just to let you know 
how mean this man is.” 

“We won’t work for him,” came from two of the 
crowd. 

The men walked out of the place in a body, 
Peterson and his friend with them. Dale and Owen 
turned back into the restaurant, and settled for the 
milk and pie. John Hoover followed them, his face 
full of anger. 

“ A nice trick you played me,” he fumed. 
“ Four first-class men, and I might have had them 
all but for you ! ” 


AN UNSIGNED CONTRACT 


201 


“ I guess we are square on that question of 
wages,” came grimly from Owen. 

“ Td rather have paid you the wages than had 
this happen ! ” 

“ No doubt; but it is too late now. After this, 
Uncle Jack, you had better treat folks as they should 
be treated — then perhaps you won’t have any more 
trouble.” 

And with this parting shot Owen and Dale hur- 
ried from the restaurant, leaving John Hoover to 
think over what they had said, and wonder what 
he had best do next to get men to take the places of 
those who were leaving his employ from day to day. 


CHAPTER XXII 


A LUMBER BOAT IN A STORM 

The rain had slackened a little, and now the wind 
was rising. Dale and Owen continued their sight- 
seeing, and then returned to the schooner, for they 
had arranged to remain on the craft that night, so 
that they might be ready for the start early in the 
morning. 

The Elizabeth was a three-master, broad of beam, 
and with good carrying capacity. She was loaded 
with dressed lumber, consigned to a lumber yard at 
Detroit, and carried a crew of twelve, besides the 
cook. The lumber filled not only the hold, but also 
a good part of the deck, so moving from one part of 
the ship to another was not easy. 

The young lumbermen slept soundly, and when 
they arose they found the schooner was already get- 
ting under way. Dressing hastily, they went on 
deck, to receive a bluff “ good-morning ” from Cap- 
tain Dacker. 

Dale and Owen watched the hoisting of the sails 
with interest, and lent a hand at coiling up the 

ropes used for fastening the ship to the dock. 

202 


A LUMBER BOAT IN A STORM 20j 

Then the Elizabeth moved on down the Saginaw 
River, and the journey toward the bay and the lake 
was begun. 

The Saginaw River is not a large stream, and the 
city of that name is situated about twenty miles 
from its mouth, near which is located Bay City. The 
run to Bay City and into Saginaw Bay occupied a 
little over two hours, and then the schooner stood 
boldly to the northeast, for Burnt Cabin Point, as 
it is called, where the bay opens into Lake Huron. 

“ This is a good, stiff breeze,” said Owen. “ I 
hope it keeps up all the way to Detroit.” 

“ The trouble of it is, it won’t be in our favor 
after we turn to run southward on the lake,” an- 
swered Dale. “ We’ll have to do a lot of tacking.” 

“ Oh, well, if the trip lasts a day or two longer 
than expected, who cares? I think a week of this 
would just suit me.” 

They found the crew of the lumber boat a mixed 
one, composed of Norwegians, Germans, French, 
and one or two' Americans. But this was not 
strange, for the majority of the population around 
the Lakes is composed of foreigners of many nation- 
alities, Germans, Norwegians, Swedes, and French 
predominating. 

“ Have you any idea how far it is to Detroit from 
here? ” asked Dale. 


204 TW0 YOUNG lumbermen 

“ I don’t know exactly, but I should say close to 
four hundred miles by the way the schooner will 
take,” replied Owen. 

As the weather was hot, the breeze from over the 
bay proved very acceptable, and the young lumber- 
men sat for a good part of the time near the bow 
of the schooner taking in the distant sights. 
But soon land was left behind, and all they 
could see was the blue sky and the smooth, 
greenish-blue waters of the lake, rippling in the 
breeze. 

“ What a difference between this and the At- 
lantic Ocean,” remarked Owen. “ There the water is 
never quiet. This looks like a big millpond 5n 
comparison.” 

“ Aint no millpond when there is a storm on,” 
said one of the deck hands, who stood near. “ I’ve 
spent four years on boats, two years on the At- 
lantic and two on the Lakes, and I can tell you that 
a storm on the Lakes is just as bad as any on the 
ocean.” 

All day long the wind kept its pace, and soon 
Captain Dacker announced that they had reached 
the lake proper. As night came on, they could see, 
off the starboard quarter, the lighthouse at Point 
aux Barques, and just beyond the twinkling lights 
of Grindstone City. Then the course of the Eliz- 


A LUMBER BOAT IN A STORM 205 

abeth was changed, and they stood almost south for 
Port Huron. 

When the young lumbermen got up the next 
morning, they found that the wind had died down 
utterly, and the schooner was lying motionless on 
what looked for all the world like a sea of glass. 
The sun was coming up in the east like a great 
ball of fire, throwing a streak of golden yellow 
toward them. 

“ It’s going to be hot now/’ declared Owen, and 
his prediction proved true. As the sun mounted 
higher the thermometer rose steadily, until the young 
lumbermen were glad enough to keep in the 
shade. 

The Elizabeth was doing her best to catch what 
air there was, but this was for the most part a fail- 
ure, and ever and anon the sails would flop idly, 
showing there was nothing to fill them. Not a sound 
was stirring, and the young lumbermen thought of 
the big and silent forest in which they had worked so 
often. This silence was equally oppressive. 

Noon came and went, and still the calm continued. 
Then a dark streak appeared to the northwestward, 
followed by sudden and uncertain puffs of air. 

“ We are going to catch a breeze now,” said Cap- 
tain Dacker grimly. “ I only hope we don’t get 
too much of it.” 


20 6 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


Soon the sails were drawing once more, and 
away they sped, the wind sending up the whitecaps 
all around them. The bow of the Elizabeth was 
covered with flying spray, so that the young lum- 
bermen had to shift from this point of observation. 
The captain looked at his barometer and saw that 
it was falling rapidly. 

“ We are up against it now,” said one of the 
deck hands to Dale. “ If I aint mistaken we’ll 
be lucky if we don’t lose some of the cargo.” 

“ Do you mean that we are going to have a 
storm ? ” 

“ That’s what — and a heavy one, too.” 

The sky was growing dark rapidly, and when the 
sun went under the clouds the lake turned a deep 
green, ominous to look upon. Sails were trimmed 
with speed, and the chains holding the deck cargo 
were carefully inspected. Then came a sudden blow 
that sent the wind whirling through all parts of the 
schooner. 

“ Better go below, you two ! ” shouted the cap- 
tain. “ ’Taint safe up here for landsmen. You 
might be washed overboard.” 

“ I’ll risk it,” answered Owen. 

“ And so will I,” added Dale, and both held fast 
to the rail of the companionway. 

Not long after this the captain ordered everything 


A LUMBER BOAT IN A STORM 207 

but the mainsail taken in. The big sheet was reefed, 
just enough canvas being left up to give the 
schooner headway. The wind was now whistling 
a perfect gale. 

“ This is worse than that storm in the forest ! ” 
cried Dale, as the spray flew all over the deck. 

“ It’s a wonder it doesn't turn the schooner up- 
side down," came from Owen. And then he added : 
“ Guess we had better go below after all, and secure 
our things, or everything will be smashed." 

Going below was no easy task, and they slid 
rather than walked down the companionway, and 
across the cabin. As expected, everything in their 
stateroom was on the floor, and knocking around 
at a lively rate. 

By the time matters were straightened out, and 
things secured, the storm was at its height, and the 
Elizabeth pitched and tossed as if on the point of 
going to the bottom at any moment. It was so 
dark below that neither Dale nor Owen could see, 
and lighting a lamp was entirely out of the ques- 
tion, and was, as a matter of fact, forbidden by 
Captain Dacker on account of danger from fire. 
Feeling their way out into the cabin, they essayed 
to mount once more to the deck, when with a crash 
the companionway door burst open and a flood of 
water rushed in, upsetting them in a twinkling. 


£08 two young lumbermen 

As the pair rolled over toward the stationary 
table, more water came down, and it was several 
seconds before Owen could get on his feet. Then, 
holding to the table with one hand, he assisted Dale 
to arise with the other. 

“ My ! but this is the worst yet ! ” began Owen, 
when a crash on the deck interrupted him. Another 
crash followed, and they heard one of the deck 
hands cry out in pain. Then came a third crash, and 
a bump, and a second later half a dozen boards came 
sliding down the companionway. 

“ Look out ! ” yelled Owen, and they leaped to 
one side. But the boards did not reach them, and 
remained jammed in the doorway. 

“ Clear away the wreck there ! ” bawled Captain 
Dacker. “ Be lively, men. Secure the rest of that 
lumber if you can, and if you can’t shove it over. 
Jackson, help Neinstein to the fo’cas’l. Onnett, 
throw that wheel over again, and be quick about 
it!” 

If more orders were added they were lost in the 
roaring of the wind and the dashing of the waves 
as they again swept the deck of the Elizabeth. Part 
of the lumber on the deck had been washed away, 
and poor Neinstein had had his ankle twisted in try- 
ing to secure the balance. Boards and beams were 
slipping and sliding in all directions, crashing into 


A LUMBER BOAT IN A STORM 20 9 

railings and cabin and forecastle. One beam went 
through the cook’s galley, wrecking the stove, in 
which, fortunately, there was no fire. 

For fully an hour the storm lasted, then cleared 
away as rapidly as it had come. There was very 
little thunder and lightning. As the wind went 
down the atmosphere became colder, until more than 
one wet and tired sailor began to shiver. But be- 
fore any time was allowed for changing clothing, 
Captain Dacker had the deck cargo redistributed and 
made secure, and had what damage was done re- 
paired. 

“ That was a blow and no mistake,” said Dale, 
as he came on deck. “ I don’t believe it could be 
worse on the Atlantic, although it might last 
longer.” 

“ They sometimes last a long while on these 
lakes,” answered Captain Dacker. 

“ Did you lose much lumber? ” 

“A couple of hundred dollars’ worth, I reckon. 
We came close to losing a lot more, but the chains 
held pretty good.” 

“ I guess we’re lucky that we didn’t go to the 
bottom.” 

“ Being filled up with lumber, the Elizabeth 
couldn’t sink very well. But we might have. become 
water-logged and been washed up somewhere along 


210 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

the shore. We came out of it, all told, pretty 
well.” 

For the balance of the day the air remained cool. 
At midnight came a strong but steady breeze, and 
once again the schooner plowed along on her way to 
Detroit. 

“ I don’t know that I would care to work on a 
lumber boat,” said Owen, on the day following, 
when the sun shone as warmly as ever. “ It’s too 
monotonous.” 

“ Not when there’s a storm on,” replied Dale, 
laughing. 

“ You know what I mean. Now, in the forest 
there is a constant change, and the place is full of 
plant and animal life. Here, one wave is exactly 
like the next.” 

“ Not a bit of it,” said a deck hand standing near. 
“ Every wave is different. But trees in a big woods 
are all alike.” 

“ Which shows that everything is as you look at 
it,” declared Dale. “ The lumberman was cut out 
for the woods, and the sailor for the sea, and there 
you are.” 

Captain Dacker wished to make a brief stop at 
Port Huron, and did so. Then the course was con- 
tinued to the St. Clair River, and one day later the 
schooner swept into Lake St. Clair. Two hours 


A LUMBER BOAT IN A STORM 


21 1 


later they came in sight of the factories of Detroit, 
with their many smoking chimneys, and then, run- 
ning past Belle Isle, they tied up at a large lumber 
dock; and the trip on the lumber boat came to an 
end. 


CHAPTER XXIII 

OFF FOR OREGON 

“ Here we are back in Detroit, Owen, and just 
about as far as we were when we first came. ,, 

“ Excepting that we have had two disagreeable 
experiences,” replied Owen. 

“ Two? ” 

"Yes; first my uncle, and then the storm — and 
I don’t know but that the experience at the camp 
was the worst,” added Owen, a little regardless of 
his grammar. 

“ Oh, well, let us forget that, Owen, I believe 
in looking ahead, not behind.” 

“ I shouldn’t like to run into another man like 
Uncle Jack Hoover.” 

" Nor I. And I doubt if there are many such 
men around.” 

The young lumbermen had put up at a cheap but 
good hotel. Their ready money was running low, 
but they did not feel like touching the amount they 
had put in the bank. 

"We must find something before the week is 
put,” continued Owen, after a pause. “ Do you 


212 


OFF FOR OREGON 21 3 

think it would do any good to write to Mr. Wil- 
bur?” 

“ I’ve been thinking of him. Didn’t somebody 
say he had an interest in a Michigan lumber con- 
cern? ” 

“ Mr. Paxton said he held shares in the Lake- 
side Consolidated Lumber Company. A good many 
other folks own shares in that concern, too.” 

“We might hunt up that company. On the 
strength of Mr. Wilbur’s name they might give us a 
job.” 

“ That’s so ! Why didn’t we think of that be- 
fore ! ” cried Owen. “ Let us call at the offices with- 
out delay.” 

It was an easy matter to locate the concern men- 
tioned. The offices were in a new stone building 
near the water front. There was something of a 
corridor, with several places that were railed off. 
Near one of the railings was a settee, and an office 
boy told them to be seated until somebody had time 
to wait on them. A dozen clerks and officers were 
present, and the air was filled with the hum of voices 
and the click-clicking of typewriters. 

“ They must do some business here,” whispered 
Dale. “ I heard one man speak of a consignment 
of a quarter of a million feet of lumber.” 

Not far from where they sat was a corner office. 


214 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

Here at a roller-top desk was a middle-aged man, 
thin and pale of countenance. He was talking to a 
visitor, a rough, bearded individual, evidently from 
the Far West. 

“ I’ll see Balasco about that deal,” the visitor was 
saying. “ And if he agrees we’ll be in good shape 
to go ahead.” 

“ That’s true, Hildan,” was the hesitating reply. 
“ But I — er — I question the — er ” 

“ Oh, it’s all right, Mr. Force. The deal is as 
straight as a string.” 

“ It doesn’t look so to me.” 

“ But it is, take my word on it. That contract 
will come this way, and when it does I, of course, 
will get my commission.” 

“ Certainly, you’ll get your commission.” 

“ Then that settles it and I won’t take any more 
of your time. If you see Wilbur tell him ” 

At that moment the bearded man glanced toward 
the doorway and stopped short. Another person 
had come in, and, looking in the direction, Dale and 
Owen saw that it was Jefferson Wilbur himself 
who had entered. 

They were on the point of greeting their friend, 
when the bearded man rushed forward and caught 
Mr. Wilbur by the hand and shook it earnestly. 
He pretended to be greatly pleased at the meeting, 


OFF FOR OREGON 


215 


but the same could not be said of the one whom he 
met, who took his hand coldly. Then followed an 
earnest talk for several minutes, and the bearded 
man showed several documents he carried in his 
pocket. 

“ Well, Til think it over, Mr. Hildan,” said Mr. 
Wilbur ait last, and the two separated, and Hildan 
left the offices quietly and swiftly. 

“ That fellow is a sharper, and I know it,” whis- 
pered Owen to Dale. “ And I guess Mr. Wilbur 
knows it, too, for he didn’t seem to care to have much 
to do with him.” 

Jefferson Wilbur now saw the two young lumber- 
men, and came toward them. 

“ Were you looking for me? ” he asked, as he 
shook hands. 

“ Hardly that, but we are glad to see you,” an- 
swered Owen, and then told how they chanced to be 
there. 

“ That job didn’t pan out, eh? ” said the lumber 
merchant. “ I am sorry to hear it — for your sakes. 
But I think I can locate you at something better.” 

“ At one of the camps of this company? ” 

“ Hardly here, for, you see, I have just sold out 
my shares in this concern. I am here to wind the 
matter up. In the future my business interests will 
be centered in New York City and in Oregon. As 


216 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


you perhaps know, we are organizing the Wilbur- 
Balasco Lumber Company of Oregon, with camps at 
different places. Mr. Ulmer Balasco is in charge 
out there, while I am looking up our interests in the 
East.” 

“ Do you want hands in Oregon?” asked Dale, 
with deep interest. 

“ I think we do — unless Balasco has already 
secured them. But if you want to try your luck 
out there, say the word, and I will get you railroad 
tickets, and I’ll give you a letter to Balasco, telling 
him to find an opening for you if he possibly can. 
You see, according to our contract, he is to run the 
camps to suit himself, and hire all his own help, but 
I fancy my letter to him will secure to you what 
you want.” 

“ You are certainly kind,” came from Owen. 

“ Not at all. I owe you both something for what 
you did for me and my family, and I want to do 
what I can for you. Of course, if you don’t care 
to go to Oregon ” 

“To tell the truth, I do care very much,” burst in 
Dale. “ And I have a special reason for it, too,” 
he went on. “ I was going to mention it to you 
when you were in Bangor, but you went away be- 
fore we could call on you a second time.” 

“Yes, I remember; I got a telegram about im- 


OFF FOR OREGON 217 

portant business in New York and here. But why 
do you wish particularly to go to Oregon ? ” 

“ I want to look up an old mining claim in which 
my father was once interested. He bought the 
mine, but it didn’t pay, and was abandoned. I’ve 
been wondering if the ground couldn’t be of some 
value.” 

“ It might be, Bradford, although I wouldn’t bank 
on it if I were you. I know of a number of places 
where mines were opened, and the land is rocky and 
barren to the last degree, not even fit for grazing 
purposes.” 

“ Oh, I’m not over-hopeful,” said Dale. “ But 
still I should like to know the exact truth.” 

“ I can’t blame you for that. Where is the land 
located ? ” 

“ I can’t describe it to you off-hand. I have the 
papers in my trunk. I’ll let you see them if you 
wish.” 

“ I’ll take a look at them when I have time. You 
see, I came to Detroit on the run. I am due in 
Chicago inside of twenty-four hours from now.” 

“ Supposing I sent you the papers, or a copy of 
them, by mail ? ” 

“ That is a good plan. I’ll give you my perma- 
nant address. But now about going to Oregon. 
Will both of you accept my offer?” 


218 two young lumbermen 

“ I will, with thanks,” came from Owen. “ And 
some day I’ll pay you back for the railroad ticket, 
Mr. Wilbur.” 

“ And so will I,” added Dale. 

“ No, no; you have already done enough,” cried 
the lumber merchant. “ Can you wait about an 
hour? Then I’ll go down to the ticket office with 
you.” 

“ Certainly, we can wait,” answered Dale. 

They sat down again, and Jefferson Wilbur dis- 
appeared. The time passed slowly, but at last he 
came to them again, and all hurried out on the street. 
A car was passing and they stepped aboard this and 
Soon reached the railroad ticket office Jefferson Wil- 
bur had in mind. 

A number of schedules were looked over, and 
presently the two young lumbermen decided on what 
route they would take, and Mr. Wilbur purchased 
the necessary tickets. Then, despite their protesta- 
tions, he insisted on their accepting fifty dollars 
apiece for incidental expenses. 

“ You may need the money,” he said. “ For on 
such a journey there is no telling what will happen. 
When you get settled be sure and write to me.” 

“ We’ll certainly do that, and we thank you very 
much,” said Dale, and Owen said the same. A few 
other words followed, and then the lumber mer- 


OFF FOR OREGON 2ig 

chant leaped on a train bound for Chicago, and 
waved them good-by. 

“ My, but he’s a hustler ! ” said Owen. “ We 
never meet him but that he is on the jump.” 

“ He’s a type of the successful business man of 
to-day,” answered Dale. “ Well, I shouldn’t mind 
hustling myself if I saw such big money ahead as 
he makes.” 

Their train was not to leave for two hours, so 
they had ample time in which to make a few neces- 
sary purchases and get their trunks and valises to 
the depot. Each was tremendously excited over the 
prospect ahead, but tried to put on a calm appearance. 
It was certainly something to travel across the con- 
tinent, through many States which they had never 
before visited. 

“ How some of the fellows at Oldtown and 
Bangor would stare if we told them we were bound 
for Oregon,” said Dale. 

“ You’re right. To come to Michigan was quite 
a trip, but this other will be more than twice as long.” 

It had been decided that they were to take a regu- 
lar train to Chicago, and at that point change to one 
of the overland expresses, that stopped only at 
Omaha, Denver, and a few other points. 

The train was fairly well filled, but they managed 
to get a seat together, and gazed out of the window 


220 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


with interest as they rushed westward, over the fer- 
tile fields of lower Michigan and upper Indiana. 
There was not much of novelty in the outlook, out- 
side of the long, level stretches, to which their New 
England eyes were, as yet, unaccustomed. 

“No wonder they can farm by machinery out 
here,” said Owen. “ They’d have a tough time of 
it using such a big reaper as that among the rocky 
hills where I was brought up.” 

The run to Chicago did not take long. Here a 
quick change, lasting less than ten minutes, was 
made, and soon the express was roaring along, past 
mile after mile of buildings, away from the out- 
skirts of the metropolis of the Lakes, and straight 
for the broad prairies beyond. The two young 
young lumbermen leaned back in their seats and 
gazed at each other in silent satisfaction. 

There was no turning back now. The long jour- 
ney to Oregon was begun. 


CHAPTER XXIV 


SOMETHING ABOUT THE NORTHWEST LUMBER 
INDUSTRY 

Anxious to do all he possibly could for them, Jef- 
ferson Wilbur had provided Dale and Owen with 
seats in the observation car of the train, so the young 
lumbermen had an excellent opportunity to gaze at 
the scenery along the route as the overland express 
roared and shrieked its way around rocky bends, 
over long bridges, and past immense stretches of 
farming lands. The view was an ever-changing 
one, and they were surprised when a porter came 
in and announced that lunch was ready in the dining 
car. 

“ It's just as elegant as anything in the East,” 
was Dale’s comment, while they were eating. “ The 
Down-Easter who doesn’t think so had better come 
out and see.” 

They had just finished lunch, when they saw that 
the train was approaching a bridge over a very broad 
river, that sparkled brightly in the sunlight. 

“ The Mississippi ! ” cried Owen, and he was right, 
and soon they were rumbling slowly over the 


221 


222 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


Father of American Rivers. Up and down the 
river were numerous steam and sail boats, and 
freight and lumber lighters, showing that commerce 
was as active here as elsewhere. 

As yet neither of the young lumbermen had put in 
a night on a regular sleeping car, and they watched 
with curiosity, that evening, as the porter built up 
the various berths, arranged the bedding, and placed 
the heavy curtains in position. As they were used 
to sleeping together, they had the porter leave out 
the upper berth, and used the lower only. 

“ This is as good as a hotel,” was Owen’s com- 
ment. 

“ Anyway, it beats the bunk up at the Hoover 
camp,” answered Dale, with a happy laugh. 

“ Don’t mention that bunk again, Dale. I can 
smell the mustiness yet.” 

But, though the bed was soft, sleeping, with the 
rumble of the train in their ears, was not so easy, and 
Dale lay awake for a good hour, listening to the 
toot-toot of the locomotive, the grinding of car 
wheels, and the sharp clack-clack as they sped over 
some intersecting tracks. He wondered what he 
would do if there was a wreck, and how he could’ 
save himself if the car rolled completely over, or if 
it took fire from the dimly burning lights in the 
aisle. And then tired Nature at last claimed her 


NORTHWEST LUMBER INDUSTRY 223 

own, and lying back to back with Owen, he dropped 
off and slept as soundly as anybody. 

When the young lumbermen arose and went to 
the lavatory to wash up, they found nobody stirring 
but the porter and an old ranchman, who was sitting 
in the smoking section, puffing steadily at his corn- 
cob pipe. 

“ Couldn’t sleep nohow,” said the ranchman, be- 
tween his puffs. “ Aint used to it, an’ it’s wuss nor 
trying to sleep in the saddle on a broncho. Next 
time I travel, I’m going to stop off for my rest.” 

The train had stopped at Omaha late the evening 
before and was now approaching Denver. By the 
time the other passengers were up and dressed they 
ran into the outskirts of the city, and here another 
dining car was hooked on to the train, the other 
having been left behind the evening before. The 
train stopped for twenty minutes at Denver, and the 
young lumbermen got off and stretched their legs by 
a walk along the station platform. 

“I’m sorry we can’t stop and look this city over,” 
remarked Owen. “ Jack Giles, the lumberman, was 
out here once, and he liked it very much. Said the 
air was the finest he had ever breathed.” 

“ The air certainly is pure,” said Dale, taking in a 
deep breath. 

Soon they were on the train again and rushing 


224 TW0 YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

forward. The prairie levels became less frequent 
and the train had often to climb the steep grade of a 
mountain. The scenery became wilder and wilder, 
and the young lumbermen could scarcely take their 
eyes from it. They were offered books and news- 
papers to read, but declined both. 

“ We can read any time,” said Owen. “ But a 
fellow sees this seldom, if ever. I’m going to take 
it in for all it’s worth,” and he did, hardly taking 
time to eat his meals. 

At Denver they were joined by an elderly man 
who told them, during the course of a conversation, 
that he was in the employ of the United States Gov- 
ernment, being attached to the Bureau of Forestry. 
He became much interested in the young lumbermen 
when he found that they were from Maine, and 
asked numerous questions concerning the trees and 
timber in that State. 

“ You are right,” he said, in reply to a statement 
made by Dale. “ The lumber industry of our coun- 
try is rapidly centering around Washington, 
Oregon, and northern California. The output of 
Maine, Michigan, and other timber sections will, of 
course, be considerable for years to come, but that 
output is as nothing compared to what we can pro- 
duce in the Far West. According to the reports of 
our department, Washington, Oregon, and Cali- 


NORTHWEST LUMBER INDUSTRY 22 5 

fornia contain about one-third of all the timber still 
standing in our country. Oregon, alone, to which 
you are bound, contains more timber than all the 
New England States and New York, New Jersey, 
and Pennsylvania combined.” 

“ Have you ever estimated the total quantity of 
uncut timber — I mean, with any exactness ? ” asked 
Owen. “ Of course you had to do it in the rough, 
to make comparisons.” 

“We have got fairly close to it, and the figures 
would astonish you. For Washington, Oregon, 
and California, we calculate the uncut trees will 
yield six hundred billion feet of lumber.” 

"Well! well!” cried Dale. "But it will take 
some cutting to get that down.” 

" You are right, yet you will be surprised to see 
the inroads that have been made at different points. 
Lumbering there, you must remember, is advancing 
on a large scale, and a stick that would be thought 
of fair size in Maine, is discarded in Oregon as too 
small. I know one lumberman who won’t cut a 
tree on his section that isn’t at least twenty inches in 
diameter.” 

" They’d better save some trees,” said Owen. 
" If they don’t, they’ll suffer one of these days, just 
as Maine is beginning to suffer.” 

" The government has already taken hold of the 


226 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


matter, and, in the three States I have named, Uncle 
Sam has set aside over thirty-two thousand square 
miles of forest lands which nobody can touch. 
These parks, as they are called, are filled with pines, 
fir, hemlock, redwood, and other trees.” 

“ Are there many small lumbermen out there ? ” 
asked Dale. 

“ There used to be, years ago. A man would 
come out here, take up a homestead claim, and per- 
haps buy up^ some additional claims near by, and 
then start in to cut trees on his own account, get- 
ting them to market as best he could, and taking 
whatever the wholesale lumber companies cared to 
pay him. But all that is changed now. Business 
is done on a big scale, and the companies have mil- 
lions of dollars invested. One company alone gets 
out half a million feet of logs every day.” 

“ Such an amount would be worth a small for- 
tune in Maine ! ” put in Owen. “ What a plant that 
must be ! ” 

“ It certainly is a fine plant, and has many miles 
of railroad tracks, half a dozen locomotives, and 
ten times as many fiat cars and trucks, four movable 
sawmills, six or eight movable donkey engines, a 
six-foot flume a mile long, from the top of one hill 
to the side of another, and a large quantity of ma- 
chinery of all kinds.” 


NORTHWEST LUMBER INDUSTRY 227 

“ And how many men are employed at such a 
place as that ? ” 

“ I don't know exactly, but I should say close on 
to four hundred. They employ one man who does 
nothing but purchase provisions for the crowd, and 
have eight or ten cooks and also a first-class doctor.” 

“ If they have a railroad, I don’t suppose they 
have much use for horses,” said Owen. 

“ The railroad runs through only a small part of 
the property, and to get the logs to the road they 
use both the donkey engines and horses. They build 
a skid road first, the same as you do in Maine, and 
then hook the logs fast to each other, making a 
train of them. Sometimes they use as high as 
twenty horses to move the log train. When they 
use a donkey engine, they chain the engine fast to 
some trees, and then hook the logs fast to a wire 
rope, that winds up on a big drum, moved by the 
engine. When the logs get to the drum, the donkey 
engine and drum are moved ahead, and then the logs 
are drawn up as before, and this is kept up until the 
logs are drawn to the spot where they are wanted.” 

“ I suppose it is nothing but lumber in some 
towns,” said Dale, after a pause. 

“ The majority of the cities in the Northwest owe 
their prosperity to the timber industry. In fact, 
some cities could not exist at all, were it not for 


228 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


this traffic. Saw- and shingle-mills abound, and 
the output of some of the shingle-making machines 
is truly astonishing. When I was out here last fall, 
I inspected a shingle machine that turned out five 
thousand first-class shingles an hour. One town in 
Washington turns out nothing but shingles, and 
sends them by trainload and shipload everywhere.” 

“ I suppose we’ll find a big difference in the work 
there from what it was in the East,” said Dale. 

“ Not so very much different outside of the fact 
that everything is done on a large scale, as I said. 
The lumbermen of the United States are about the 
same everywhere. To be sure you’ll find plenty of 
foreigners out in Oregon, especially Scandinavians, 
and also a fair portion of French-Canadians. But 
the men are a whole-souled lot, and if you do what 
is right by them, they will stick by you, no matter 
what happens. Ten years ago I was a total 
stranger in the Northwest; now I have a host of 
friends out there — real friends, who will help me 
down to their last dollar, if I actually need it,” con- 
cluded the man who had given out so much valuable 
information. 


CHAPTER XXV 

AN INTERVIEW WITH ULMER BALASCO 

“ Here we are on the Columbia at last ! ” cried 
Dale, in the morning, a couple of days later. The 
train had come up from Pendleton and struck the 
river at Umatilla. Again they saw a broad sheet 
of water, but this time hemmed in by a gorgeous 
canon, overgrown with heavy brushwood and trees 
of large size. The railroad runs along the south 
bank of the river, through the canon, and passes 
over Willow Creek, John Day and Deschuttes riv- 
ers, and numerous other streams. 

Portland is the great lumber center of Oregon, 
and the distance to this city from Umatilla is about 
a hundred and seventy-five miles, as the river runs. 
But the young lumbermen were not going to Port- 
land. Instead they were to stop off at a small sta- 
tion called Tunley, at a point where the Columbia 
made a slight turn to the northward. Here there 
was something of a cove, and beyond this a creek 
running up to the property owned by the Wilbur- 
Balasco Company, who also had a large “ yard ” at 
this point on the big waterway. 


230 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

The ride along the riverside to Tunley was a pic- 
turesque one, and the young lumbermen were aston- 
ished when the brakeman called out the name of 
the station for which they were bound. 

“ Here we are, Dale ! ” cried Owen, as he reached 
for his valise. “ We’d better step lively, for they 
don’t stop over an hour at such a settlement as 
this.” 

They were soon on the depot platform, and their 
trunks were handed out after them. Their arrival was 
unexpected, and the station master and the half 
dozen rough-looking men standing around gazed at 
them speculatively. Then the express went on its 
way, leaving them to do for themselves in this 
strange spot, three thousand miles from their home 
in Maine. 

Tunley consisted of a depot, a general store, a 
combination hotel and barroom, and half a dozen 
cabins, the homes of the men who looked after the 
lumber in the yard and along the creek. It was a 
flat, hot place, with the canon wall to the east and 
the west, the broad river in front, and the split of 
the creek in the rear. The creek was a winding 
one, and on either side grew clumps of small firs. 
There had been big firs there years before, but these 
had all been cut down for timber long ago. 

“ This is the station for the Wilbur-Balasco Com- 


AN INTERVIEW WITH ULMER BALASCO 23 1 

pany’s camp, isn’t it ? ” said Owen to the station 
master, by way of an opening. 

“ It is,” was the answer, and the railroad man 
looked them over with a keen eye. “ Bound for that 
place, I reckon ? ” 

“ We are. How far is it? ” 

“ The lower yard is about four miles up yonder 
creek. The other yards are two and three miles fur- 
ther. The railroad runs down to the upper bend of 
the creek, two miles from town. If you hoof it that 
far, I reckon you can get a ride on the engine the 
rest of the way. But perhaps you want hosses. If 
so, you can hire a couple over to Shanley’s barroom.” 

“ I’d just as lief walk, if it’s only two miles,” said 
Dale. “ I’d like the ride on the engine.” 

The station master laughed. “ Don’t think it’s 
such a road as you’ve just left,” he said. “ On the 
curves it’s enough to knock out your teeth. But, 
even so, it’s better than walking.” 

“ We’ll leave the trunks on check for the present,” 
said Owen. “ And our valises, too.” 

“ All right, throw the bags in the room yonder — 
nobody around here will touch ’em — and I’ll put the 
trunks in alongside. If you’d come in half an hour 
sooner you could have ridden up with Jake Powell in 
the big wagon. He was down here for flour that 
came in on the morning freight.” 


232 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

“ Do you know if Mr. Balasco is up at the camp ? ” 
asked Dale, seeing that the station master was in- 
clined to be talkative. 

“ Yes, he went up yesterday. He was down to 
Portland three or four days.” The railroad man 
looked at them again. “ You look as if you might 
be a couple of lumbermen.” 

“ That is what we are, and we’re here to look 
for a job,” answered Owen. “ We come from 
Maine.” 

“ Great hossflies! Maine! You didn’t travel 
none to get here, I reckon.” 

“We didn’t come right through — we stopped off 
for a spell in Michigan.” 

“ Would you like to meet some of the boys around 
here? If so, I’ll call ’em up, and introduce you over 
to Shanley’s, too.” 

Owen felt that it would be quite the proper thing, 
according to the idea of many, to invite all hands to 
“ have something ” at his expense. But, as we 
know, he did not drink, nor did Dale, and both were 
resolved to give the barroom a wide berth. 

“ Thanks,” he said. “ But I guess we had better 
go right up to the camp and see Mr. Balasco. The 
train was late, you know.” 

“ All right, just as you say. But the boys ” 

The station master said no more. “ They’re tender- 


AN INTERVIEW WITH ULMER BALASCO 233 

foots and young — let them have their way,” was his 
thought. 

The roadway along the creek-side was rough and 
full of stones, with here and there a hollow, deep 
with mud. The undergrowth was rank, and stumps 
of immense trees stuck up everywhere. Nothing had 
been cleared, according to the notions of these young 
Down-Easters, and everything was in sad need of 
“ sprucing-up,” as Dale expressed it. In some spots 
trees of fair size had been cut down and left to de- 
cay, instead of being sawed up into boards or 
shingles. 

“ This shows how wasteful man gets when he has 
all he wants,” said Owen. “ You wouldn’t find so 
much timber going to waste anywhere in New Eng- 
land — stuff is too hard to get.” 

The murmur of the creek was very pleasant, and 
in one spot they came to a rocky spring, from which 
a stream of water as large as one’s hand poured 
forth. The water was both clear and cold, and 
each of the travelers satisfied his thirst eagerly. 

“ This is better than visiting that hot and dirty- 
looking barroom at the hotel,” was Dale’s comment. 
“ How men can hang around such places day and 
night is more than I can understand.” 

“ They want company as much as anything, 
Dale. They get lonely in the woods and come here 


234 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


for companionship. I don’t really believe that one 
in ten wants the liquor he pours down.” 

“ Perhaps he doesn’t when he starts, but he soon 
looks for it — make no mistake on that point — and 
then he finds it is too late to break away and give 
up the habit.” 

Presently the pair heard the distant toot of a 
locomotive and the rattle of a lumber train as it 
passed over a trestle. Clearing a clump of timber, 
they came out into an opening, and saw at the 
upper end a lumber yard, with the railroad tracks 
running into it in fan shape. At the yard was a 
tiny turn-table for the engines, and half a dozen sheds 
for various purposes. A train had just come in, 
carrying twenty-odd tree trunks, each of good 
length, and from five to eight feet in diameter. 

“ There is timber for you ! ” cried Dale. “ I’ll 
tell you what, there are a heap of boards in one of 
those sticks.” 

“ Not to say anything about shingles,” put in 
Owen. 

An empty train of cars was on the point of leav- 
ing the yard, and the young lumbermen rushed up 
to the locomotive and hailed the engineer. 

“We want to see Mr. Balasco,” said Owen. 
“ Can we ride up to the camp with you? ” 

“ Certainly; jump up on that flat car, and hold on 


AN INTERVIEW WITH ULMER BALASCO 235 

tight,” was the answer, and they leaped to the car 
mentioned. Soon the train had started, and they 
were jouncing along on the road, up grade and 
down, and around many a sharp turn, where the 
car wheels creaked and groaned as if in pain. As 
the station master had said, it was enough to knock 
out their teeth, and they could do but little talking 
en route. The locomotive was an odd-looking affair, 
quite different from any they had yet seen, and so 
were many of the trucks — used instead of flat cars 
for long sticks. 

The ride soon came to an end, and they found 
themselves almost at the door of a long, low build- 
ing, bearing the sign, Wilbur-Balasco Lumber Com- 
pany — Offices. 

“ Here we are,” said Owen. “ Come on,” and he 
entered the building boldly, with Dale at his heels. 
A clerk was present, figuring at a set of books, and 
a tall, heavy-set man, with a dark face and sharp 
black eyes, sat by a window, reading a lumbermen’s 
journal. 

As the young lumbermen came in, neither the 
clerk at the books nor the man who was reading 
looked up. Both waited just inside of the door a 
full minute. 

“ The price on that timber went up, just as I said 
it would,” exclaimed the man who was reading, 


236 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

presently. He glanced toward the clerk, and in so 
doing caught sight of Owen and Dale. “Hullo! 
What can I do for you ? ” he went on. 

“ We are looking for Mr. Ulmer Balasco,” said 
Owen. 

“ That’s my handle, young man.” 

“We are out of employment and thought you 
might have an opening for us,” continued Owen, as 
he came closer, for Mr. Balasco did not offer to rise 
from his chair. 

“ Hum ! I don’t know about that.” Ulmer 
Balasco turned to his book-keeper. “ Nixon, are 
any of the gangs short of hands ? ” 

“ Not according to Monday morning’s report,” 
was the short reply of the clerk. 

“ Then I don’t see ” Ulmer Balasco ap- 

peared to muse for a moment. “ What can you do? 
Had any experience? Where did you come from? ” 

“ We’ve worked around lumber camps and saw- 
mills for several years,” said Owen. 

“ And we’ve come all the way from Maine to try 
our luck here,” put in Dale. “We carry a letter 
of recommendation from your partner, Mr. Jeffer- 
son Wilbur.” 

At the mention of Jefferson Wilbur’s name, Ul- 
mer Balasco suddenly arose. 

“ Did he send you out here? ” he asked abruptly. 


AN INTERVIEW WITH ULMER BALASCO 237 

“ Not exactly, sir/’ said Owen. “ We tried our 
luck in Michigan before we came here. But Mr. 
Wilbur helped us with our tickets to Oregon, and 
gave us a recommendation to you. Perhaps you 
had better read the letter.” 

“ I will.” 

Ulmer Balasco read the communication with close 
attention, rubbing his chin reflectively as he did so. 
Then he cleared his throat several times. 

“ I see Mr. Wilbur recommends you very 
strongly,” he began. “ He says both of you did 
him a great service. May I ask what that was ? ” 

In a few simple words, Dale told of the forest 
fire, and of how Owen and himself had rescued the 
Wilbur children. 

“ Oh, yes, I heard of that ! ” cried Ulmer Balasco, 
and for some reason he appeared more at ease. 
“ No wonder Mr. Wilbur recommends you. I’ll 
have to see what I can do. You say you know the 
business? ” 

“We do — according to the way they work in 
Maine,” answered Owen. “ Here are our other 
recommendations,” and he brought them forth. 

“ Those are all good enough, and I reckon you’ll 
fill the bill — if there is any to fill. You can put up 
here at the camp for the present, and Til do what 
I can for you in the morning.” 


CHAPTER XXVI 


IN AN OREGON FOREST 

“ What do you think of Mr. Balasco?” asked 
Dale of Owen, after they had left the office of the 
lumber company. 

“ To tell the truth, I don’t think I am going to like 
him,” was Owen’s slow answer. “ There is a cer- 
tain something about him that grates on a fellow, 
but what it is I can’t explain.” 

“ I think he has a very good opinion of himself,” 
came bluntly from Dale. “No doubt he thinks he is 
the whole show, as the saying goes.” 

“ He is certainly a different man from Mr. Wil- 
bur. How the two came to be partners is a mystery 
to me.” 

“ Perhaps they got together before they met — I 
mean, got into the company together.” 

“ That may be so. And, besides, Mr. Balasco 
may put on a different front when he meets Mr. Wil- 
bur.” 

The two had been told to make themselves at 
home around the camp, and had been introduced to 
one of the foremen, Pelham by name, and to several 

238 


IN AN OREGON FOREST 


239 


others. Pelham told them where they could sleep 
that night, and also told the cook at one of the din- 
ing halls he should provide them with meals. 

Both of the young lumbermen were anxious to 
see how work was done in this district that was so 
new and novel to them, and they eagerly accepted 
the invitation of one of the trainmen to go to an 
upper yard. 

“ All told, this timber claim is divided into ten 
camps or yards,” said the train hand. “We were 
working all ten camps about six weeks ago, but Mr. 
Balasco thought lumber was coming in too fast at 
the creek, so he cut down the gangs to eight.” 

“ How many men in a gang? ” questioned Owen. 

“ From thirty to thirty-two.” 

“ As many as that ? ” queried Dale. “ How do 
you divide them up ? ” 

“ In the first place, there is the boss, or foreman, 
who, of course, tells what trees to cut and how they 
shall be dropped.” 

“ Yes, we know that.” 

“ Then there are two fellers — choppers, I reckon 
you call 'em — and two sawyers. Next come two 
barkers, two swampers, a skid maker, about *en 
laborers, two or three hook tenders, a rope tender, an 
engineer for the donkey engine, and a bucker. Last 
of all comes the cook and the cook’s helper, and the 


240 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

boy who greases the skids, and also a runner, who 
carries messages from one telephone office to an- 
other.” 

“And you have eight gangs like that?” came 
from Owen. “ That means two hundred and forty 
hands.” 

“ Including the men at the creek, on the railroad, 
and on the river below, we have two hundred and 
seventy-five hands. We had over three hundred, 
but, as I said before, Mr. Balasco cut down the 
number.” 

The train of trucks and flat cars soon hauled up 
at a yard, and the two young lumbermen jumped to 
the ground and made their way into the neighboring 
forest, from which came the steady ring of the fell- 
ers’ axes and the hum of the sawyers’ long-bladed 
saws. The forest was one of fir, with trees running 
up to six and seven feet in diameter, and covered 
with rough bark half a foot thick. 

“ Here is where cutting down a tree is real work,” 
remarked Owen, as they neared the spot. 

Not far away two fellers had just reached a tree 
that was to be brought down, and they watched the 
workmen with keen interest, for the tree was a mag- 
nificent specimen of Douglass fir, as large as any in 
the neighborhood. It stood with a circle of smaller 
trees around it. 


IN AN OREGON FOREST 


24I 


“ They are going to have trouble bringing that 
down without hurting one of the little trees/’ said 
Owen. 

“ Perhaps not, Owen. Let us watch and see how 
they do it.” 

At the start, the two fellers cut notches into the 
lower part of the trunk about a foot from the gnarled 
roots, which sprawled in all directions. Into these 
notches they inserted bits of board and wedged them 
in tightly. When thus wedged, each board formed a 
tiny platform upon which a feller could stand and 
work with ease. 

The next attack on the tree was the cutting of a 
long, deep notch, called a kerf, about three feet above 
the standing places of the fellers. This kerf ex- 
tended nearly halfway around the tree, and the 
center was next cut in deeply, to correspond with the 
two outer ends. 

The kerf finished to the satisfaction of the head 
feller, both now set to work with a long saw. on the 
opposite side of the tree, and cut in almost as deeply 
as the kerf cut. Then the saw was brought around 
to the kerf, and this was deepened until the cuts on 
both sides of the tree almost met. 

“ This is getting interesting,” said Owen. “ That 
tree will be down in a minute more.” 

The head feller had measured and cut the kerf 


242 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

with accuracy, directly opposite to a small opening 
between the small trees that surrounded the monarch 
to be laid low. Now he called for several steel 
wedges, and these were driven into the kerf with 
sledge hammers. The tree was now beginning to tot- 
ter, and word was sent out to “ clear the brush and 
stand from under ! ” 

“ Easy now, Jerry ! ” cried the head feller. 
“ Easy ! ” He gave another heavy blow on his side. 

“Now another, Jerry! One more 

Wait.” He struck out himself, twice. “ Now, one 
more, both together!” The sledges came down, 
and the tree groaned and shivered. Another blow, 
and both fellers leaped from the platforms and 
darted out of harm’s way. Then over went the 
tree, slowly at first, and then with increased speed, 
straight between the smaller trees, to strike the 
ground with a boom that could be heard a long 
way off. 

“ Hurrah ! it’s down ! ” cried Dale enthusiasti- 
cally. “ And it came just where he wanted it, too.” 

The head feller wiped the perspiration from his 
forehead with his brawny and hairy forearm, and 
smiled at the youth. “ Putty big crash, wasn’t it ? ” 
he said, and smiled to show he appreciated Dale's 
compliment. 

“ I wouldn’t mind bringing down such a giant 



“ Hurrah ! it’s down,” cried Dale. — Page 242 

















































































4 











# 


















IN AN OREGON FOREST 243 

myself/’ went on Dale. “ I never tackled anything 
larger than twenty-two inches.” 

“ Oh ! are you a feller ? ” 

“ I have been almost everything around a camp 
and a sawmill. But not here. I come from 
Maine!” 

“ Maine ! Put her there, young man ! ” The fel- 
ler shook hands cordially. “ I’m from Maine 
myself — came from Portland, eight years ago.” 

“ I am glad to meet you,” said Dale, and intro- 
duced himself and Owen. The feller’s name was 
Andy Westmore, and he proved to be a whole- 
souled individual. He asked about the news from 
Down East, and ended by saying he hoped Dale 
and Owen would get work at the camp and close to 
himself. 

“ About two-thirds of the men here are Scandina- 
vians, and one-half of the rest are French-Canadi- 
ans,” he said. “ So we haven’t got any more true- 
blue Americans than we ought to have.” 

“ I’d like to work with you,” said Owen open- 
heartedly. “ I don’t care much for the foreigners — 
although they may be good enough fellows.” 

“ They are — and honest to the core. But they 
can talk very little English, and that makes it bad.” 

Not to keep Andy Westmore from his work, they 
moved on to another portion of the big camp. Here 


244 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


they watched the sawyers at work, cutting several 
trees into proper lengths for transportation, and also 
saw the barkers scaling off the thick bark, which 
was rougher than any they had before seen. Further 
on still the swampers and laborers were clearing a 
place for a roadway, and the skid maker was ar- 
ranging his logs. It may be mentioned here that a 
skid-way, or skid road, is merely one made of logs 
laid side by side, with the upper side partly smoothed 
down. The logs used for this purpose are usually 
limbs of trees that are too small to be cut up into 
timber. 

At the lower end of the yard was the donkey en- 
gine, fastened to several trees by heavy wire ropes 
or cables. Here was the big drum already men- 
tioned, on which was wound the long wire rope used 
for hauling the timbers forward. When in action 
the donkey engine made a vast amount of noise. The 
fire was fed entirely on wood, and the pitch in the 
pine caused a heavy cloud of smoke to pour from the 
stack, a cloud that on a clear day could be seen for 
many miles around. 

The regular engineer was absent for the day, and 
in his place was a young fellow not any older than 
Dale, if as old — a youth with a broad, fair face, and 
thick, curly black hair. 

“You’ve got a warm job right enough,” said 


IN AN OREGON FOREST 245 

Dale, after watching the youthful engineer for a 
few minutes. 

“ Oh, I don’t mind that,” was the cheery answer. 
“ I’m used to it, and I’ve worked in places a good 
deal hotter.” 

“ You mean in an engine room? ” said Owen. 

“ No, in a foundry. This heat here isn’t a patch 
to the heat in a foundry when they are pouring off 
metal.” 

“ I was never in a foundry,” said Dale. 

“ I was brought up around ’em.” The young en- 
gineer looked at the young lumbermen curiously. 
“ Just paying the camp a visit? ” 

“ No, we are looking for work. Mr. Balasco said 
he’d see what he could do for us to-morrow.” 

“ I hope he takes you on. Most of the hands here 
are foreigners, and there are only one or two young 
fellows like myself.” 

A talk lasting the best part of half an hour fol- 
lowed, and Dale and Owen gained considerable 
knowledge about the lumber company, and the way 
the various yards were managed. They introduced 
themselves and told where they were from, and in 
return learned that the young engineer was named 
Bruce Howard, and that he had left his home in 
San Francisco nearly six months before. 

“1 came up to Portland on a lumber boat,” he 


246 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

said. “ I had only about six dollars in my pocket, 
and thought I had best save what I could. In Port- 
land I got a job working in the engine room of a 
sawmill, and that is where I picked up enough ex- 
perience to run this donkey. Then I met one of the 
fellers, Andy Westmore, and came here with him, 
and IVe been here ever since.” 

“ Do you like it ? ” questioned Owen. There was 
something about Bruce Howard that pleased him. 

“ Oh, it isn’t so bad, but I’d like something better 
if I could get it. I like to work in iron and steel 
better than running an engine. Some day I’m going 
to work my way over to Pennsylvania and get in one 
of the big steel plants there,” continued Bruce 
Howard. 

“ Then I take it you are alone in the world, like 
ourselves,” came from Dale. 

At this remark a shadow showed itself for a 
moment on Bruce’s face. 

“ No, I’m not alone,” he said. “ I’ve got a father 
and a mother and a little sister. But, you see, father 
and I couldn’t agree. I had a row in the foundry 
with the boss, and father wanted me to take back 
what I said, and I wouldn’t do it. That brought on 
a big quarrel, and I said I’d clear out before I’d go 
on my knees to any boss, especially as I knew I was 
in the right. So then father said he wouldn’t have 


IN AN OREGON FOREST 


247 


me around if I wouldn’t mind him, and we had some 
more words, and that night I packed my grip and 
came away — and I’ve been away ever since.” 

“ Don’t they know where you are? ” 

“ Oh, yes ! I’ve written half a dozen letters to my 
mother, and she has written to me. She wants me 
to come back, but father says he won’t have me, 
and I — well, I don’t want to go if he feels that way 
about it,” concluded Bruce. 


CHAPTER XXVII 

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LOG TRAIN 


The following week found Dale and Owen fully 
settled at the camp of the Wilbur-Balasco Lumber 
Company. Mr. Balasco had interviewed them for a 
few minutes on the morning after their arrival, and 
had then placed them under the directions of a fore- 
man named Larson, a Swede, who could speak 
fairly good English. They had gone back to the 
railroad station for their trunks and valises, and 
were housed in a cabin at what was called Yard 4, 
located at the head of the creek. The yards above 
No. 4 were without a waterway, and the timber had 
to be hauled down by engines and by horses, al- 
though a flume was being built, from a hill half a 
mile further on. When this was finished, a moun- 
tain stream was to be turned into it, which would af- 
ford a waterway for all the timber in that section, 
and also increase the flow in the creek running into 
the Columbia. 

Yard 4 was on a hillside, thickly overgrown with 
brush, and full of loose stones, so the gang had to 
work at first with great care, for rolling stones are 

248 


WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LOG TRAIN 249 

conducive to twisted ankles and broken limbs. In 
Larson’s gang were sixteen foreigners, and the 
balance were Oregonians, all muscular fellows, as 
tough as pine knots. 

It must be confessed that both Dale and Owen 
found the work cut out for them very hard. 
Larson was a driver, and never gave his men any 
rest if he could help it. 

“ Mr. B’aseo expect de work and we must do it,” 
said the foreman. “ Nobody lak to see de work fall 
behind. Work up dare, den, an’ show what you can 
a-do.” And the men did work up, although not 
without growling. 

At first Dale and Owen were placed among the 
barkers and sawyers, but as soon as Larson heard 
that they had chopped down trees in Maine, he let 
them try their skill on some of the smaller trees to 
be cut. They went to work with all the skill they 
could command, doing exactly as they had seen the 
other fellers do, and when the first tree came down 
the foreman nodded approvingly. 

“ Dat’s putty goot,” he said. “ Not so queek as 
I like, but maybe it goes queeker by an’ by, hey ? ” 

“ It will go quicker after we are used to it,” an- 
swered Owen. 

He was sorry that they had not been placed in 
the yard where Andy Westmore and Bruce Howard 


250 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

were located. But there was no choice in the matter, 
and he and Dale accepted what was offered to them 
without hesitation. 

“ If we don’t, Mr. Wilbur may think we’re a 
couple of cranks,” said Dale. “ As he was kind 
enough to pay our car-fare out here, we ought to do 
all we can to please him.” 

“ I shan’t say a word — at least not this season,” 
answered Owen. 

One day was very much like another, until one 
afternoon Ulmer Balasco paid a visit to the yard. 
He held a short, earnest talk with Larson, and then 
ordered that about half of the timber cut should be 
taken up to where the flume was rapidly approaching 
completion. 

“ But you said dat dat timber was needed on dare 
pig railroad contract,” Owen heard Larson say. 

“ Never mind, Larson ; do as I’ve ordered,” an- 
swered Ulmer Balasco sharply. “ I’ll take care of 
the contract. And there is no use of your working 
the men to death. If you don’t take care you’ll 
have them either quitting altogether, or striking for 
higher wages.” 

After that the work went on more slowly, and 
when a man of the gang stopped to smoke out a 
pipeful of tobacco the foreman said little or nothing. 
The lumber that had been ordered for the flume 


WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LOG TRAIN 25 1 

went up day after day, and more followed, so that 
next to nothing was floated down the creek, to help 
fill the railroad contract mentioned. 

“ I must say I can’t understand what Mr. Balasco 
is driving at,” said Andy Westmore, when Dale and 
Owen came down to see him and Bruce Howard, on 
the following Sunday. “ Two months ago it was 
announced that the company had taken a big con- 
tract from the P. C. & W. Railroad, and that the 
work was to be shoved through without the slightest 
delay. Everything went swimmingly until about 
two weeks ago. Then those two yards were closed 
up, and now some of the lumber has been sent up 
to the flume, instead of down to the Columbia. 
They’ll never fill that contract on time at this 
rate.” 

“ Mr. Balasco ought to know what he’s doing,” 
said Owen. “ Perhaps the railroad is behind in 
payments.” 

“ I have an idea he wants to get the flume done,” 
put in Bruce Howard. “ As soon as that is finished 
he can send down all the lumber he pleases, from 
Cat Hill.” 

“ He can get all the lumber he wants right here,” 
went on Andy Westmore. “ If he waits for the 
flume he’ll be behind with his contract just as sure as 
you are standing there.” 


252 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


A part of the Sunday afternoon was spent by 
Dale and Owen in penning a long letter to Jefferson 
Wilbur, telling that gentleman of their arrival at the 
camp, and mentioning what they were doing. Dale 
also got out the mining papers that had belonged to 
his father, and made a copy of the documents, and 
this copy was placed in the letter, which was later 
on put in a sack along with many others for de- 
parture on the mail train when it should stop at 
Tunley. 

So far the young lumbermen had had but little 
to do with the majority of the men around them, and 
nothing at all with those employed at the yards be- 
yond Number 4. They had paid one visit to the 
flume that was building, and inspected with much 
interest the big trestle which was to carry the tim- 
bered waterway from the side of one hill to the 
bottom of the next. 

As mentioned before, the railroad through the 
timber claim was a winding one, reaching points a 
good distance from the creek, and from Cat Hill, 
where the flume was located. The road was an old 
one, and greatly in need of repair, but Ulmer Balasco 
would do nothing to it, and had his men work on the 
flume instead. 

Both Dale and Owen liked to ride on the trucks, 
and when an order came for them to do some extra 


WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LOG TRAIN 253 

work at Yard 7, at the end of the railroad line, both 
were delighted over the prospect. 

“ Now we’ll have a chance to see part of the 
outfit that we haven’t seen before,” said Owen, 
“ and get a little breathing spell in the bargain.” 

A train was going down that afternoon at five, 
and Dale and Owen were set at work with the rest 
of the gang, loading the trucks with eight long 
sticks, five and six feet in diameter, that were wanted 
for some special purpose by a mill down the river. 
The sticks, each seventy-five feet long, were winched 
up on the trucks, and there fastened by big chains, 
so that none of them might slip while rounding the 
sharp curves. The fastening of three of these 
chains was left to Dale and Owen, and they per- 
formed this duty exactly as they saw the others 
doing the work. 

“ I can tell you what, there is some weight to 
those logs,” remarked Owen, when the stick train 
was ready to start. “ If anything breaks loose on 
the trip, something will get smashed.” 

“ Are you young fellows going down ? ” asked 
one of the train hands. 

“ Yes,” answered both. 

“ All right then, hop on. And to pay for the trip, 
suppose you take a hand at one pi the brakes?” 
And the man grinned. 


254 TW0 YOUNG lumbermen 

“We can do that, too/’ said Dale promptly. 
“ Where do you want us to go ? ” 

“ You can take this brake, and Webb can take the 
next. Old No. i aint good for much any more, and 
we have to hold up for her all we can/’ He re- 
ferred to the locomotive, which had seen its best 
days, and should have been on the scrap heap in- 
stead of trying to haul a load or hold it back. 

The line ran in the shape of the letter S, with a 
long, graceful curve at the top, and a sharper curve 
at the bottom, where the roadbed ran along the edge 
of a rocky gully. The grade was up hill and down, 
and the track was a single one with six switches, 
used not alone for turning out, but also for loading. 

It had been showering, and although the sun was 
now shining once more, the tracks were still wet 
and slippery. Here and there the tree branches 
overhung in such a fashion that a person riding on 
the trucks had often to duck to avoid getting struck 
by them. 

“ Don’t let a limb hit you and knock you off,” was 
Owen’s final word of caution, and then the whistle 
of the locomotive tooted, and with a creak and a 
groan the log train started on its journey over the 
hills and down to the yard below. 

When the heavy train started, a thrill ran over 
Dale, and he grasped the brake to steady himself. 


WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LOG TRAIN 255 

He was between the ends of two big logs which were 
so high that he could scarcely look over them. Owen 
was to the rear, and the train hand who had spoken 
to them was ahead, while another hand was at the 
last truck. A thick volume of smoke came down 
from the stack of the locomotive, and the young 
lumbermen had to guard against cinders getting into 
their eyes as they sped along. 

The first curve of the journey was made without 
much difficulty, although trucks and chains creaked 
ominously as one big stick after another switched 
around to the straight stretch beyond. Then came 
a sharp down-grade, and the engineer whistled for 
brakes, and every man jumped to do his bidding. 
An upgrade followed, and the brakes were kicked 
off and on they went as before, over a low trestle 
and a switch that bumped them so both Dale and 
Owen nearly lost their footing. Then another down 
grade, and again the whistle for brakes. 

Dale was hard at work when he heard a yell from 
Owen, and looking along the big stick behind him, 
saw his chum standing up, waving his hand fran- 
tically. 

“ The chain ! ” he heard, above the grinding of 
the wheels. “ The chain has broken ! Look out ! ” 

For a moment he did not comprehend, but then 
he realized the truth of what had occurred. The 


256 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

chain on the truck behind had broken away from the 
steel hook that held it, and now the heavy log was 
lurching forward on the down grade, with all the 
weight on the front chain. It was already close to 
the brake, and just as Dale leaped to the top of the 
log in front it struck the rod and bent it over as if 
made of lead. 

“ If it only holds until we get around the curve! ” 
thought Dale, and wondered what he had best do. 
The train was going faster and faster, and he could 
not notify the engineer of the trouble, for they 
.would be at the curve in thirty seconds more. 

Cling! The front chain snapped, the loose end 
whipping over the log and ringing sharply against 
the twisted brake. Then the big log lurched for- 
ward and struck the log on which Dale rested with 
the impact of a battering ram. There was a dull 
thud, and both logs swerved to the right and the 
left as if about to leave the trucks entirely. Dale 
clutched at his footing, tried to scramble up, and 
then pitched forward into space. Owen, on the 
trucks in the rear, saw the logs swerve, and saw 
the end of one hit some rocks beside the tracks. 
Then, to avoid a crushing blow, he leaped from 
the swiftly moving train, struck some thick brush- 
wood on the down side of a hill, and disappeared 
like a flash from view. 


CHAPTER XXVIII 

JEFFERSON WILBUR SEEKS INFORMATION 

When Dale came to his senses he was lying flat 
on his back on some brushwood, with several lum- 
bermen standing around him. One had been bath- 
ing his face, and another held a liquor flask in his 
hands. 

“ He’s coming around,” he heard, in Andy West- 
more's voice. “ I guess he wasn’t hurt so much as 
we supposed.” 

“ He had a close call, right enough,” put in 
another lumberman. “ I reckon you’d best give him 
a dose of the liquor, Andy.” 

“ No, he doesn’t use the stuff, Hank.” 

“Are any bones broken?” asked a third person 
of the group. 

“ Wouldn’t be surprised if his left arm was 
broken,” answered Andy Westmore. “ It was 
doubled under him when we picked him up.” 

Dale opened his eyes and gazed around stupidly. 
Then he tried to sit up. A fearful pain in his left 
arm and shoulder caused him to sink back once 
more. 

257 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


258 

“Well, lad, how do you feel?” asked Westmore 
kindly, as he knelt on the brushwood. 

“ I — I don’t know yet,” gasped Dale. “ My left 
arm — oh ! ” 

“ Guess it’s broken, sure enough,” said the older 
lumbermen. “Better let it rest till the doctor 
comes.” 

“ Where is Owen? ” 

“ Done up like yourself. He went into the brush- 
wood head first, and that saved him some broken 
bones, and maybe a broken neck. But he got 
scratched pretty roughly, and some of the boys are 
binding up his cuts.” 

“ And the train — was that wrecked ? ” 

“ It was a putty good smash-up, but the locomo- 
tive and four cars are all right. Only the rear end 
suffered. Jackson jumped as soon as he saw the 
chain break, so he wasn’t hurt.” 

“ I’m glad of that,” murmured Dale, and then he 
said no more. The pain in his arm and his shoulder 
made him grit his teeth to keep from shrieking aloud. 

A broad slab was brought forward, and he was 
placed on this and carried to one of the cabins. 
Owen had already been brought in, and sat in a low 
chair, his forehead, and throat, and one hand 
bandaged. 

“ I feel as if I’d been through a threshing ma- 


JEFFERSON WILBUR SEEKS INFORMATION 259 

chine,” declared Owen. “ I plowed through the 
brushwood so fast that the twigs cut like a knife. 
I finished up in a ditch of water, and that likely 
saved me from a broken head.” 

It was a good hour before the doctor arrived. He 
declared that Dale’s elbow and his shoulder were 
both dislocated, and called in the assistance of Andy 
Westmore to help him in setting the joints as they 
belonged. The operation made Dale wince, but he 
shut his teeth hard, and although great beads of 
perspiration stood on his forehead, he uttered no 
word of protest. 

“ He’s gritty,” said Westmore. “ Reg’lar Maine 
boy to the backbone.” And his friendliness toward 
the youth increased wonderfully. 

Along the railroad track half a dozen trucks, and 
four of the big sticks of timber, lay in a confused 
mass, along with several sections of rails and ties. 
Mr. Balasco had been down to the Columbia at the 
time the accident occurred, and now he telephoned 
that his head man should take charge and straighten 
things up as soon as possible. But the day was 
drawing to a close, and little could be done in the 
dark. 

“ How do you feel now, Dale?” asked Owen, 
after the doctor and the majority of the men had de- 
parted. 


26 o 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ I feel a good deal better than I did before those 
joints were set, Owen. How they hurt ! ” 

“ You were lucky not to have something broken, 
and I was lucky, too.” 

“ How did that chain happen to break ? ” 

“ I don’t know. It was rusty-looking. Perhaps 
one of the links was rusted through.” 

“ Do you suppose Mr. Balasco will hold us re- 
sponsible for the accident ? ” 

“ I don’t see how he can. We took the chains that 
were given us and fastened them just as the others 
were fastened. If the links were weak, that wasn’t 
our fault.” 

“ It was the jouncing, I think, broke the chain. 
That roadbed is in a vile condition.” 

In a few days Owen was well enough to go to 
work. In the meantime the doctor continued to 
call upon Dale, and told him that he might be able 
to get around in a week or ten days, but that he 
must not attempt to do real heavy work for at least 
a month. 

When Owen reported to Larson, the foreman told 
him Mr. Balasco wanted to see him at the office. 

“ I suppose I’m in for it,” thought the young lum- 
berman dismally. 

He found the lumber merchant seated at the 
window, reading a lumber journal as before. When 


JEFFERSON WILBUR SEEKS INFORMATION 261 

Ulmer Balasco saw who his visitor was his face 
darkened a trifle. 

“ So you’ve come to report at last, eh? ” he said 
abruptly. “ What have you got to say for yourself, 
young man ? ” 

“ I didn’t know you wanted to see me until an 
hour ago,” answered Owen. “ Up to to-day I 
haven’t felt able to go to work.” 

“ I suppose not — by the looks of you. But, come, 
what have you to say for yourself? Don’t you 
know that that accident has cost this company a neat 
penny ? ” 

“ I’m sorry for that, Mr. Balasco.” 

(t I am told that you and Bradford fastened the 
chains that gave way.” 

“ We did; and we fastened them exactly as all 
the other chains were fastened.” 

“ Quite likely,” sneered the lumber merchant. 
“ If they had been properly fastened they would 
have held. We have never had an accident of that 
sort here before.” 

“ The chain was rather rusty. I haven’t seen it 
since the accident. Did the links give way, or was 
it the fastening alone ? ” 

“ Hum ! I understand it was the fastening. The 
chain went under the trucks and was pretty well 
broken up before the train stopped.” 


262 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

“ I can’t see how you can hold me responsible if 
the links of the chain gave way.” 

Ulmer Balasco shifted his feet uneasily. 

“ I consider you responsible for this accident — 
you and your friend Bradford. Under ordinary 
circumstances I would discharge both of you.” 
The merchant cleared his throat. “ But, in consid- 
eration of the fact that you were recommended to 
me by Mr. Wilbur, I will retain you in our employ 
for the present. But in the future I want you to at- 
tend to your work up at the yards, and leave the rail- 
road end of the business alone.” 

Owen’s face flushed, and he was on the point of 
making some sharp answer, and throwing up the 
position then and there. But he thought of Dale 
and of how his chum was not yet able to move. 

“ All right, sir,” he said coldly. He waited a 
few seconds. “ Is that all you want ? ” 

“ Yes.” And Ulmer Balasco resumed the reading 
of his trade journal. 

“ Oh, what a man ! ” thought the young lumber- 
man, as he hurried away. “ I’d like to throw his 
job in his face, and I will as soon as Dale and I 
can turn ourselves ; and I’ll let Mr. Wilbur know just 
what I think of Balasco, too ! ” 

When Owen got back that night he felt in duty 
bound to tell Dale of the interview with their em- 


JEFFERSON WILBUR SEEKS INFORMATION 263 

ployer. Dale was as indignant as his chum, if not 
more so. 

“ I would have told him to go to grass with his 
old job,” said he. “ Now we are out here, I guess 
there are lots of other lumber camps just as good 
as this.” 

“ But you can’t move yet, Dale; and besides, what 
will Mr. Wilbur think, after all he has done for us? 
Of course we could write to him and tell him 
just how matters stood. But still he might 
think ” 

“ I don’t think he’d blame us, for he knows that 
we are willing to do what is right.” 

“ But Balasco is his partner.” 

“ Yes, that’s the worst part of it. A man in busi- 
ness has often to stick up for his partner’s doings, 
even if he doesn’t wish to.” 

“ We can leave later on.” 

“ Yes, we can do that, and tell Mr. Wilbur that 
we have given Mr. Balasco a fair trial, eh ? ” 

The next day came letters for over a score of 
men in the camp. There was one communication 
in a plain envelope for Owen, and it was marked 
Personal. 

“ Hullo, who can be sending me such a letter as 
this ? ” cried the young lumberman. 

“ Evidently it is meant just for you alone, Owen. 


264 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

It must be from your best girl,” added Dale 
jokingly. 

“ Well, if it is, I’d like to know who she is,” an- 
swered Owen, and opened the communication. 

He was soon reading the letter with deep interest, 
and after he had finished he read it a second time. 
Not to appear curious, Dale spent the time in looking 
over an illustrated paper one of the hands had 
loaned him. The letter finished, Owen looked 
around cautiously, thrust the communication in his 
pocket, and leaned over Dale. 

“ It’s from Mr. Wilbur, and very important. I’ll 
tell you about it when the others are gone.” 

It was half an hour later when the two young 
lumbermen found themselves alone. Then Owen 
sat down close to Dale. 

“ Mr. Wilbur writes a very odd letter,” he said. 
a It is meant for you quite as much as for me, 
for he mentions both of us. He marked it Per- 
sonal so that no outsider might get it. I’ll read it to 
you.” 

And then Owen read the following: 

“ I received the letter from yourself and from 
Dale Bradford, also the copy of the documents, and 
have turned the latter over to my lawyer for investi- 
gation. Tell Bradford the lawyer knows Oregon 


JEFFERSON WILBUR SEEKS INFORMATION 265 

ground very well, and will, no doubt, make a trust- 
worthy report. 

“ Now I am going to ask you to do me a per- 
sonal favor, and do it without letting anybody but 
yourself and Bradford know. I want you to watch, 
as far as you are able, the work done in the various 
yards of our property, and let me know if, in your 
judgment, as much lumber is shipped to the Co- 
lumbia as the force of men can handle, and also if 
the entire force is now getting out timber, or spend- 
ing time on the railroad or the flume. Also let 
me know, if you can, if a party by the name of 
John Hildan, generally called Foxy Hildan, has 
visited the property lately. He is a dark-faced man, 
with a heavy beard. Do not mention Hildan to 
Mr. Balasco, or ask Mr. Balasco about the ship- 
ments.” 

“ That is certainly a queer letter,” remarked Dale. 
“ Evidently Mr. Wilbur is inclined to think that 
everything isn’t going right around here.” 

“ I’ve heard that name of Hildan before, but I 
can’t place it, can you ? ” 

“ No. If he is called Foxy, he can’t bear a very 
good reputation.” 

“ Exactly what I think. About the lumber, cer- 
tainly Mr. Balasco isn’t cutting as much as might 
be handled.” 


266 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ Yes, and he is sending a good part of the cut up 
to the flume. We can report on that without much 
trouble. ,, 

At this point some men came up; and the inter- 
esting conversation came to an abrupt close. 


CHAPTER XXIX 

MATTERS OF IMPORTANCE 

Fifteen miles below Tunley was located a large 
saw- and shingle -mill, where something like two 
hundred thousand shingles were cut and bundled 
every working day in the year. The mill alsa turned 
out wheel spokes, ax and pick handles, and various 
other things in wood, everything being done by ma- 
chinery which was of the most complicated kind. 

Owen had been longing to visit this mill, and 
when he got the chance to go down to Rice’s, as it 
was called, he was delighted. He went on horse- 
back, carrying a band saw that Ulmer Balasco 
wanted exchanged for another. 

Between Tunley and Rice’s mill there was a 
series of rapids in the river, and at this point the 
young lumberman saw a truly interesting sight. 
Half a dozen fishermen were out among the rocks in 
their rubber boots, each with a long spear in his 
hands. They were watching for salmon, and when- 
ever a fish darted along, one or another would make 
a quick lunge with his spear. The majority of the 
lunges were unsuccessful, but occasionally a strike 

267 


268 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

would prove true, and the fisherman would hold the 
struggling fish aloft and march to the shore in 
triumph with his prize. 

“ That’s a sport I wouldn’t mind trying myself,” 
thought Owen. “ It beats watching a float all 
hollow.” 

Rice’s mill was a long, narrow building built on 
spiling, and fronting the river. To one side was a 
pond and yard for extra lumber, and to the rear 
was a dry kiln. At the front were large, double 
doors, and from these there was a runway or slide, 
reaching down into the water. Up this slide were 
hauled the logs to be cut up for various purposes. 

The noise around a mill was familiar to Owen’s 
ears, yet the volume here was greater than he had 
ever heard before. There was the hum of the saws, 
the hiss of the planes, and the constant clank-clank 
so inseparably connected with all mills of this na- 
ture. Inside, the sawdust and small shavings were 
everywhere in evidence, and beams and rafters were 
coated with a white dust as fine as flour. Patent 
pipes and suction fans carried the large shavings to 
the furnaces, and scoops took the sawdust to a pit 
near bv. It was a hot place, and the majority of 
the workmen wore nothing but their shirts, trousers, 
and shoes. 

“ Like to look through, eh ? ” said the proprietor, 


jMATTERS OF IMPORTANCE 269 

after Owen's business was concluded. “All right, 
go ahead. Or, wait a few minutes and I'll go with 
you. We’ve just been setting up a new shingle ma- 
chine, and she’s a dandy,” he added enthusi- 
astically. 

Accordingly Owen waited around the office while 
Mr. Rice attended to several orders which a clerk 
had brought up for his inspection. The majority 
seemed to be satisfactory, but one order was per- 
emptorily turned down. 

“ Write to Foxy Hildan and tell him flatly that 
we can’t fill that order unless we get a guarantee for 
the payment,” Owen heard Philip Rice say. “ I 
trusted that man once and got stuck, and I shan’t do 
it again.” 

“ He was here day before yesterday and said it 
would be all right,” answered the clerk, in a low 
voice. 

“ Here ? I didn’t see him.” 

“ It was after you went away. I wanted him to 
come back and see you about it, but he was in a 
hurry to get up to Tunley and see Balasco— said it 
was something important.” 

“ Is he coming back this way? ” 

“ No, he said he was going on further after his 
stop at Tunley.” 

“ Did you say anything about a guarantee? ” 


270 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

“ No, sir. I didn’t know you wanted it.” 

“ Well, write to him and tell him what I said. If 
he doesn’t want to toe the mark we can get along 
without him. He may be foxy, but he can’t play 
his little game on me. He stuck the Everett people 
about three thousand dollars, so Panglass said, and 
he always tells the truth.” 

“ Couldn’t they get the money at all ? ” asked the 
clerk. 

“ Not a dollar. You see, Hildan pretended to act 
only as an agent, and in some way they couldn’t hold 
him for it. Oh, he’s as slick as grease. If he wants 
my shingles he has got to pay cash or give me a 
cast-iron guarantee,” concluded Philip Rice. 

Owen could not help but hear this conversation, 
and it interested him greatly. He had learned that 
Foxy Hildan had visited Ulmer Balasco two days 
before, and further, according to Mr. Rice and to a 
man named Panglass, Hildan was not to be trusted 
in any business transaction, and had already swin- 
dled some Everett timber or shingle dealers out of 
three thousand dollars. 

“ I’ll have to send Mr. Wilbur a letter as soon 
as I get back,” he thought. “We can now give him 
about all the information he asked for, and the 
sooner he gets it the better I suppose it will be for 
him.” 


MATTERS OF IMPORTANCE 271 

“ Now I'll show you through,” said Philip Rice, 
and led the way from the office to the first of the big 
machines. This was a large band saw, of improved 
pattern, and Owen was immediately interested in 
seeing this machine cut into a log several feet in 
diameter and saw it from end to end with scarcely 
an effort. 

“ We’d have little use in Maine for such a saw as 
that,” he said. “ It’s the heavy wood-working ma- 
chinery out here that counts.” 

From the band saw they passed to a planing 

machine, and then to several used for turning out 
* 

moldings, and to a dozen or more lathes. At one 
machine spokes for wagon wheels were dropping 
forth at the rate of several a minute, and at another 
he saw hammer handles made by the score. Then 
he came to the shingle machines, and was shown 
that which the proprietor of the place thought so 
good. It certainly was a beautiful machine, and the 
way it turned out the shingles was a sight to wit- 
ness. 

“ The other machines are good enough,” said 
Philip Rice. “ But the shingles from them are more 
or less rough, and contractors are apt to kick when 
they use them. These shingles, as you see, are as 
smooth as can be and will be worth a little more 
money in consequence.” 


272 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

After going through the mill, Owen visited the 
dry kiln. This was an exceedingly hot place, and 
he was glad to leave it and go into the immense yard 
to get the fresh air. 

“ Next year I am going to build an addition to the 
mill, and manufacture sashes and blinds, doors, and 
all kinds of trimmings,” said Philip Rice. 

“ Can you get the trade for those things ? ” 

“ Indeed, I can. Why, I am now shipping goods 
to Denver and Omaha, as well- as to points in the 
South, and last week a Chicago lumber dealer was 
here for shingles. Besides, we ship by water to 
half a dozen different countries. I could send stuff 
right to New York City if I wished.” . 

“ Where do you get your lumber ? ” 

“All from up the river. Your people used to 
supply a good deal of it, but after you made that 
contract with the railroad I had to reach out fur- 
ther.” 

“ I suppose Mr. Balasco made that contract, didn’t 
he?” 

“ I think he did — he and a man named Hildan, 
who was in business with Balasco years ago. Your 
Mr. Wilbur wanted to keep on with me, so I under- 
stand.” 

This was said inquiringly, but Owen merely 
shrugged his shoulders. 


MATTERS OF IMPORTANCE 273 

“ I can’t say as to that, Mr. Rice. I’m a new- 
comer here. I came West only a few weeks ago.” 

“ I used to know Wilbur years ago, and he was 
a fine fellow. I wish he was here now, instead of 
Ulmer Balasco.” 

“ Do you ? So do I,” answered Owen, before he 
had stopped to think twice. 

“ Ah, then you know Jefferson Wilbur? ” 

“ Yes, sir. He helped a friend and myself to get 
out here. We were out of a job and he gave us a 
letter of recommendation to Mr. Balasco.” 

“ I see. What is Mr. Wilbur doing now ? ” 

“ Attending to his lumber affairs in New York, I 
believe.” 

“ Well, he ought to come out here — I think it 
would do him good.” 

There was a significant tone in Philip Rice’s voice 
that did not escape Owen’s notice. He wondered 
if he had best ask this man some questions concern- 
ing Ulmer Balasco and Foxy Hildan. 

“Has Mr. Balasco been here long?” he ques- 
tioned in an offhand manner. 

“ About a year and a half. He used to have a 
claim up the river of his own, but he joined forces 
with Wilbur, and they formed the Wilbur-Balasco 
Company, and Balasco settled here and runs things 
to suit himself.” 


274 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ Doesn’t Mr. Wilbur come out at all? ” 

“ Not much. But if I was him I’d come.” 

“ Why?” 

“ Oh ! ” Philip Rice drew a long breath. “ I’d 
want to see just what was doing, that’s all.” 

While talking they were walking around the yard, 
and now came to a halt in the shadow of a shed. 
As they did this, Owen happened to glance at one 
of the men who were shifting boards from one pile 
to another. 

“ Hullo, where did he come from ? ” he cried, in 
astonishment. 

“He? — who?” questioned Mr. Rice. 

“ That fellow over there,” and Owen pointed with 
his finger. 

“ Do you mean Derande? ” 

“ His name isn’t Derande.” 

“ That is what the fellow calls himself. He came 
here from Canada about two weeks ago and asked 
for a job. Do you know him?” 

“ I do — if he is the fellow I take him to be. I’d 
like to get a better look at him.” 

“ Why not go up and talk to him ? ” asked Philip 
Rice, with interest. 

“No; I want to look at him first. I may be mis- 
taken. Wait a minute.” 

“ But I don’t understand.” 


MATTERS OF IMPORTANCE 275 

“ The fellow I take him to be is a thief from 
Maine. He stole a horse once, and he tried to rob 
Mr. Wilbur’s lodge. He was caught, but escaped 
from jail while awaiting trial.” 

“ Is it possible! And you think this is the fel- 
low?” 

“ I do — but I had best make sure.” 

Watching his chance, Owen left the shed and 
slipped around the end of a high pile of lumber. 
Then he made his way across a gangway and around 
some heavy timbers. In the meantime the man he 
was watching delivered some boards he was carry- 
ing and then came back for another supply. 

His steps brought him close to where Owen was 
standing, and as he passed, the young lumberman 
got a square look at his face. The man was Bap- 
tiste Ducrot. 


CHAPTER XXX 


ULMER BALASCO SHOWS HIS HAND 

“ Hullo, Ducrot ! ” 

At the sound of Owen's voice the man who was 
carrying the boards across the lumber yard came to 
a sudden halt. He looked at the speaker in aston- 
ishment and his face fell. 

“ So we meet again, eh ? " went on Owen. “ You 
didn't expect it — away out here, did you ? " 

“ I — I — not know you," stammered Baptiste 
Ducrot, trying to recover his self-possession. 

“ Don’t know me? Well, I know you well 
enough, Ducrot." 

“ Why you call me Ducrot ? Dat ees not my 
name. My name Derande — Pierre Derande." 

“ Not much — you are Baptiste Ducrot, plain and 
simple." 

By this time Philip Rice had come up, and so had 
several of the workmen. All gazed curiously at 
Owen and Ducrot. 

“ I not know you!" growled the French-Cana- 
dian. “ You t’ink you make fool me, hey ? " 

276 


ULMER BALASCO SHOWS HIS HAND 277 

“ You will think I am making a fool of you when 
you are behind the bars, Baptiste Ducrot.” 

“ Is it possible there is some mistake ? ” questioned 
Philip Rice anxiously. “ This man may simply re- 
semble somebody else.” 

“ I know him well,” answered Owen. “ There is 
a scar on his left hand, where he got hit with an ax 
one day. Another man wouldn’t have just such a 
scar.” 

“ Who dis feller ? ” demanded Ducrot insolently. 
“ I not know him ’tall. Why he bodder me? ” 

“ Can you prove that this man is the fellow you 
take him to be? ” went on Philip Rice, to Owen. 
“ Remember, his word here is as good as yours.” 

Owen thought rapidly. If he said yes, he would 
not be able to touch Ducrot until he had brought 
Dale to the scene to identify the man. Dale could 
not be brought at once, and in the meantime, if 
Ducrot was not held, he might take time by the fore- 
lock and run away. On the other hand, if the 
French-Canadian was allowed to have his own way 
he might remain in the lumber yard until Owen was 
in a position to notify the Maine authorities. 

“ I could prove it if we were in Maine,” answered 
the young lumberman. 

“ But we are not in Maine,” said the mill owner. 

“ Then I guess I’ll have to let it pass, Mr. Rice. 


278 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


Besides, I may be mistaken after all,” went on 
Owen. 

At these last words Baptiste Ducrot looked much 
relieved. 

“ Sure, you mak meestake,” he said. “ Dat udder 
feller he mus’ look lak me, dat’s all.” 

“ Well, let it go,” said Owen lightly, and motioned 
for Mr. Rice to move away with him. They walked 
off, and after a few minutes Baptiste Ducrot resumed 
hia labor. 

“ He is my man,” whispered Owen. “ There 
isn’t the least bit of a mistake. I can prove it, but 
not right away. I wish you’d keep him here until 
I can let the authorities know.” 

“ I don’t want a thief in my employ,” returned 
Philip Rice. 

“ Can’t you keep him until I send word to the 
Maine authorities and to Mr. Wilbur ? ” 

“ Yes — if he’ll stay.” 

“All right; and if he goes away, kindly try to 
find out where he goes to,” concluded Owen. 

The young lumberman was soon on the return 
to Tunley. He saw Baptiste Ducrot watch his de- 
parture eagerly, but did not let on that he noticed 
this. 

“ He’s a slippery customer,” thought Owen. 
“ I’ll have to work quickly if he is to be captured.” 


ULMER BALASCO SHOWS HIS HAND 279 

When he arrived at the camp he had several 
things to do before the day came to an end and he 
could tell Dale of his discovery, and of what Philip 
Rice had said about Ulmer Balasco and Foxy Hil- 
dan. Dale listened eagerly. 

“ Oh, Owen, we ought to send a letter to Mr. 
Wilbur at once, and another to the authorities in 
Maine! ” cried the young lumberman. “ It might 
be criminal to delay.” 

“ We’ll write the letters now,” answered Owen. 
“ And I’ll post them myself to-morrow, before the 
mail train reaches Tunley.” 

The young lumbermen had pens, ink, and a large 
writing pad with them, and sitting close to where 
Dale rested, Owen wrote two communications. The 
one was short and to the point, notifying the sheriff 
of the county at home that Baptiste Ducrot was 
working at Philip Rice’s yard and could be identified 
by himself and Dale. The second was to Jefferson 
Wilbur, and told of everything that had happened 
at the camp bearing on the railroad contract, and of 
what they had heard concerning Ulmer Balasco and 
Foxy Hildan. In this communication Owen laid 
particular stress on what Mr. Rice had said about 
Mr. Wilbur coming out to Oregon to look after his 
interests. 

“ That will give him a good idea of how matters 


280 two young lumbermen 

stand/’ said Owen, when he had finished, and added 
a few lines that Dale had suggested. “ I have an 
idea it will bring him on in a hurry.” 

'‘If he does come on, I’ll wager he and Mr. 
Balasco have a quarrel over that railroad contract. 
But for the life of me, I can’t see why Mr. Balasco 
should hold back as he is doing. His interest in 
that contract is the same as that of Mr. Wilbur.” 

“ Perhaps not — we don’t know the particulars 
of that contract, Dale. I have an idea this Foxy 
Hildan comes in on it somewhere.” 

“ Well, we’ll know later.” 

Owen slept “ with one eye open ” that night, and 
long before the sun was up he had dressed and was 
on his way to Tunley railroad station. Only a few 
of the loggers were astir, and all the locomotives 
on the little yard line were still housed for the night. 
Not wishing to walk the entire distance, the young 
lumberman persuaded a stable hand to loan him a 
horse for a couple of hours. 

“ All right, Webb, you can have him, but be sure 
and come back before the whistle blows,” said the 
hostler, and Owen promised. 

A ride on horseback in the cool, bracing moun- 
tain air of the early morning just suited the young 
lumberman, and he made good time down to 
Tunley station. Here he found the station master 


ULMER BALASCO SHOWS HIS HAND 28 1 


just opening up for business. He had a pouch of 
letters going out on the train, and after stamping 
Owen’s communications placed them among the 
rest. Then the train came along, and the pouch 
sped on its long journey eastward. 

Feeling that he had no time to spare, Owen 
started without delay for the camp again. He was 
still half a mile from where he had procured the 
horse, when he saw a well-dressed man coming to- 
ward him, down the creek trail. The man was also 
on horseback, and as he came closer Owen recog- 
nized Ulmer Balasco. 

The young lumberman had no desire just then 
to meet his employer, and had he had the opportu- 
nity he would have taken to a side path. But there 
was no chance to do this, and in a moment more 
Ulmer Balasco confronted him. 

“ Hullo; where have you been?” demanded the 
part owner of the camp, frowning. 

“ I’ve been down to Tunley,” answered Owen. 
“ Had a little errand there.” 

“ For your foreman ? ” 

“ No, sir; for myself.” 

“ Hum ! ” The frown on Ulmer Balasco’s face 
deepened. “ Is that your horse ? ” 

“ No, he’s yours — and Mr. Wilbur’s,” answered 
Owen, his face flushing. “ I didn’t think it would 


282 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


hurt him to go that far. They are hardly using the 
horses at our yard now — since we got that new don- 
key engine up there.” 

“ I don’t like my men to use the horses for pri- 
vate purposes,” growled Ulmer Balasco. “ After 
this, if you want to go down, ride as far as the rail- 
road runs and then walk,” and without another 
word the man pursued his journey. 

An angry retort arose to Owen’s lips, but he sup- 
pressed it, and moved away in silence. 

“ The bully ! ” he muttered, when out of hearing. 
“ The big, overgrown bully ! What a difference 
between him and Mr. Wilbur! It didn’t hurt the 
horse one bit to use him — he really needed the exer- 
cise. I believe he is down on us, just because we 
were recommended by his partner. I hope Mr. Wil- 
bur comes out here and gives him ‘ hail, Colum- 
bia’!” 

As Ulmer Balasco rode down into Tunley his face 
was very thoughtful. Something in Owen’s man- 
ner had aroused the suspicion that had been slumber- 
ing in his breast ever since the two young lumber- 
men had applied to him for work. 

“ I’d like to know what he went down to Tunley 
for,” he mused. “ Wonder if I can find out? ” 

At the depot he met the station master and asked 
him if he had seen Owen. 


ULMER BALASCO SHOWS HIS HAND 283 

u Yes, he was here with a couple of letters," was 
the reply. 

“ Hum ! Did he — er — did he mail that letter to 
— er — Portland ? ” 

“ Don't know as he did, Mr. Balasco. The two 
he gave me to stamp were for some sheriff in Maine 
and to Mr. Wilbur." 

“ Nothing for Portland ? " 

“ Not that I saw." 

“ You are sure about the one to Mr. Wilbur? ” 

“ Oh, yes ! It was extra-heavy, and needed six 
cents in stamps." 

“ Hum ! Has it gone yet ? " 

“ Yes, he came down early, so that the letters 
would catch the first mail East." 

“ Then my letters must wait — if the train has 
gone," said Ulmer Balasco, producing several com- 
munications. “ Well, it doesn’t matter much. 
Have a cigar, Larry; " and then he produced the 
cigars and changed the subject. From the station 
he visited the hotel, and then started back to camp. 

“ The young spies ! " he muttered, his eyes flash- 
ing dangerously. “ I was afraid of it right along. 
Their coming here for work was only a blind. Wil- 
bur sent them here to learn just what I was doing, 
and I’ve been fool enough to play into their hands 
right from the start. For all I know, they may 


284 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

know everything, and may be watching Foxy Hildan 
as well as myself. If that is so, Fve put myself in a 
nice hole. ,, He clenched his fists, “ What had I 
best do next? Shall I lay low, or call them into 
the office and have it out with them ? ” He mused 
for several minutes, chewing his cigar-end viciously. 
“ I reckon I’ll call them up, and get clear of them. 
Perhaps after that I can doctor matters up 
before Wilbur gets on the ground and sees how 
things are going.” 


CHAPTER XXXI 

THE CRISIS 

The new donkey engine at the yard where Owen 
was employed was in charge of Bruce Howard, so 
the young lumberman now saw considerable of the 
young engineer, and quite a friendship sprang up 
between the pair. 

“ I'm not going to stay here very much longer,” 
said Bruce. 

“ Don't like the work, I suppose,” returned Owen. 

" Oh, it's good enough, but I want to get into 
some big rolling mill or steel plant. What I would 
like best of all would be to study chemistry, with a 
view of becoming a high-grade steel maker. Such 
men are greatly in demand and they earn big 
salaries.” 

“ Well, everybody to his own taste,” came from 
Owen. “ Now, I wouldn't like anything better 
than to be a part owner or boss at such a lumber 
plant as this, or own such a mill as Rice's, below 
here. I’m certain I'd never make a success of iron 
or steel working.” 

“ I’ve been told that a fellow is only really success- 
es 


286 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


ful in the line he likes,” said Bruce. “ Now, I’ve 
liked iron and steel working ever since I could re- 
member. There used to be a small foundry near 
where I was born, and when I was only five or six 
years old, I sneaked down there and looked into the 
windows to see them cast things in the sand.” 

On the day that Ulmer Balasco made up his mind 
to interview Owen and Dale, and discharge them, he 
received an important telegram from Portland, and 
left for that city on the evening train. This gave 
him no chance to talk to the young lumbermen, and 
he did not return to the camp until three days later. 

In the meantime Dale’s hurts mended rapidly 
and on the third day he was able to be around again, 
although working was as yet out of the question. 
Larson had been transferred to the work on the 
flume, and the yard was now in charge of Andy 
Westmore. 

“ You jest take it easy,” said the old lum- 
berman from Maine. “ Time enough to go to work 
when you’re able.” 

“ Providing Mr. Balasco doesn’t kick,” answered 
Dale. 

“ If he kicks, let him kick. I wouldn’t kill my- 
self for anybody.” 

“ I’m not going to.” 

“ Fact is, I don’t know what to set you at, any- 


THE CRISIS 


287 


way,” went on Andy Westmore, in a lower voice. 
“ Mr. Balasco says not to cut this and not to cut 
that, and there is precious little left to bring down. 
I don’t understand it at all.” 

“ Perhaps the railroad contract has gone up the 
spout,” suggested Owen, who stood near by. 

The old lumberman shrugged his shoulders. “ If 
that is true, I reckon this company is going to drop 
a lot of money,” he said. 

“ Well, they can sell the lumber somewhere else,” 
went on Dale. 

“ Yes, but what about the forfeit they put up to 
the railroad? They will lose that.” 

“ Is there a forfeit? ” 

“ To be sure there is. I don’t know what amount, 
but it’s pretty big, rest assured of that.” 

That afternoon Dale took a walk up to the flume. 
This was nothing more than a high trestle built of 
rough timber. At the top was a water-tight, V- 
shaped trough, sloping gradually from the top of 
one hill to the bottom of another, about a mile away. 
The sides of the trough were built of boards 
smoothed on the inner side, so that nothing might 
catch fast on them. When in use this flume would 
be almost filled with water, and any lumber floated 
in at the upper end would readily be carried to the 
lower. 


288 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ This is a small flume alongside of some,” said 
the foreman in charge of the work. “ Some of the 
camps have flumes five and ten miles long, and there 
is a flume in California about sixty miles long, run- 
ning from the top of the Sierras, where there is noth- 
ing but ice and snow, to the valleys where it is sum- 
mer nearly all the year around.” 

“ It will be a great saving of money when they 
can float lumber from all parts of this camp right 
down to the Columbia,,” said Dale. “ But there is 
a good deal to do before that happens,” 

“ Well, we are rushing things all we can. Mr. 
Wilbur wanted us to wait with this flume until next 
year, but Mr. Balasco said to go ahead at once.” 
“Do you know Mr. Wilbur personally ? ” 

“ Yes, I’ve seen him two or three times — when I 
was in the East. He’s a fine man. I wish he was 
out here now. He’s a hustler.” 

“ You are right there. I never saw him but that 
he was on the go,” answered Dale, with a laugh. 
“ I believe he hardly gives himself time to eat some- 
times. He is chock-full of business.” 

“ He came into this lumber company on the jump, 
and I doubt if he knows exactly what is doing here 
— he has so many other irons in the fire. I believe 
if he was up here he’d make some changes. I 
say this to you because I’ve heard that you know him 


THE CRISIS 289 

pretty well,” added the foreman, with a sharp look 
at Dale. 

“ I don’t know him so very well, Mr. Gladstone. 
But he takes an interest in me and Owen Webb, be- 
cause we once did him a couple of good turns while 
we were out in Maine at a lumber camp there.’* 

“ I see. Well, you stick to him ; and he’ll treat 
you well, mark my words,” concluded Gladstone, as 
he turned away to give directions about the erection 
of additional timbers along the flume trestle. 

On all sides were large lots of logs, varying 
from eighteen to forty inches in diameter. There 
seemed to be more sticks than could possibly be used 
on the flume, yet additional lumber was coming up 
every day — lumber that Dale felt should have gone 
down to the Columbia to help fill the all-important 
railroad contract. 

“ It’s nothing short of criminal to send that lum- 
ber here,” thought the young lumberman. “ If 
the company has a forfeit up with the railroad com- 
pany Mr. Balasco must be insane to do it.” 

It was on the following morning that Ulmer Ba- 
lasco sent for Dale and Owen to come to his private 
office, a small structure built as an annex to the book- 
keeper’s den. Mr. Balasco had sent the book- 
keeper off on an errand, so the young lumbermen 
found him alone when they called. 


290 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

“ Something 1 is in the wind, that is certain,” said 
Owen. “ Perhaps he smells a mouse.” 

“ I guess he’ll smell more when we hear from Mr. 
Wilbur,” answered Dale. 

“We mustn’t say much until we are sure of what 
we are doing.” 

Ulmer Balasco was walking up and down his 
office, puffing away furiously at a black-looking 
cigar. He looked sharply at each of them as they 
entered. 

“ You sent for us, I believe,” began Dale. 

“ I did,” was the short reply. “ Sit down.” 

A bench was handy, and Dale dropped on this, 
while Owen took a chair. Ulmer Balasco continued 
to pace the floor for a few seconds, then sat down in 
the chair in front of his roller-top desk. 

“ Now, I want the truth out of you fellows,” he 
said roughly. “ The truth, do you hear ? ” 

“ The truth about what ? ” questioned Owen. 

“ I want to know just why Mr. Wilbur sent you 
here.” 

“ He didn’t send us,” answered Dale truthfully. 
“We were out of a job, and he suggested we try 
you for an opening, and gave us a recommendation.” 

“ You sent a long report to Mr. Wilbur a few days 
ago,” said the lumber merchant, turning to Owen. 

“ I did,” answered Owen, and went on shrewdly : 


THE CRISIS 29I 

“ Did Mr. Rice tell you how I caught that 
thief? ” 

“ Thief? What thief? ” 

“ The fellow who tried to rob Mr. Wilbur's lodge 
in Maine. He got away from the authorities in 
Maine and drifted out here. I spotted him the day 
I went up there about the band saw.” 

“ I haven’t seen Mr. Rice.” 

“ Oh ! Well, we caught him — that is, I did — 
but he wouldn’t own up that he was Baptiste Du- 
crot,” went on Owen quickly. •“ But I know him by 
a scar he carries. I wrote to Mr. Wilbur about it, 
and I also sent a letter to the sheriff of the county in 
Maine. The sheriff was all cut up over Ducrot’s get- 
ting away, and I know he’ll want to bring him back.” 

Ulmer Balasco breathed deeply. He remem- 
bered that the station master had mentioned a letter 
to a sheriff in Maine. This story must be a true one. 
If so, perhaps after all his fears were groundless. 

“ Evidently you don’t bear this Ducrot any good 
will,” he ventured. 

“ Why should I ? ” answered Dale. “ He once 
stole a horse from me, and knocked me into the 
water in the bargain.” 

“ Then it’s no wonder you want to catch him. 
Do you — er — do you suppose Mr. Wilbur will come 
on to see about it ? ” 


292 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

“ I'm sure I don't know." 

“ Did you ask him to come on ? " 

At this Dale remained silent. In the letter sent by 
himself and Owen they had urged Mr. Wilbur to 
come on — but not on Baptiste Ducrot’s account. 

“ We told him he had best come West," said Owen 
boldly. “ But he may not come — he is so busy." 

There was an awkward pause. Ulmer Balasco 
hardly knew how to proceed. Then a sudden 
thought struck him. Even if these two young men 
were not spies, it might be as well to get rid of them. 

“ I suppose you want to know why I sent for you," 
he said slowly. “ It is on account of that accident 
on the railroad. I have investigated further, and I 
am now convinced that both of you were guilty of 
gross negligence. That being so, I have resolved 
that I will dispense with your services after this 
week. I will pay you off next Saturday, and then 
you can look elsewhere for work." 

It was a heavy blow and each of the young lum- 
bermen felt it keenly. Each realized that Ulmer Ba- 
lasco meant to get rid of them before Mr. Wilbur’s 
arrival, when he would cook up such a story against 
them as pleased him. 

“ Mr. Balasco, don't you think you are rather 
hard on us? " said Owen. 

“ Not at all. In the first place, you had no busi- 


THE CRISIS 


293 


ness on the train. In the second place, having 
agreed to fasten the logs, you should have done the 
work in a proper manner. It was only by pure luck 
that the whole train wasn’t wrecked and several lives 
lost.” 

“ I did my full duty ! ” cried Dale. “ And if you 
won’t believe me, perhaps Mr. Wilbur will.” 

“ I am manager here — not Mr. Wilbur,” re- 
sponded Ulmer Balasco, and showed his teeth very 
much after the manner of a wolf. 

“ Well, you don’t manage any too well ! ” was 
Owen’s parting shot, and then he arose and left, and 
Dale followed him. 


CHAPTER XXXII 


AN UNEXPECTED APPOINTMENT 

“ Dale this looks as if we were out of it.” 

“ Yes, Owen, and I think it is a shame.” 

“ Undoubtedly. But what are you going to do 
about it ? ” 

“ Perhaps we’ll hear from Mr. Wilbur before 
Saturday.” 

“ Yes, but even so, Mr. Balasco is manager here, 
as he says. We’ll have to go.” 

So talking, the pair made their way back to the 
yard from which they had come. Here they told 
Andy Westmore and Bruce Howard of what had 
occurred. 

“ It’s a jolly shame,” said Bruce. “ I declare, I 
almost feel like throwing up the job myself. I had 
some words with Mr. Balasco just before he went 
down to Portland, and I came pretty close to walk- 
ing off then.” 

“ If I were you I’d report the matter to Mr. Wil- 
bur,” said Andy Westmore. “ And tell him he had 
best come on and look at what’s being done.” 

“ We have sent him a letter,” answered Owen. 

294 


AN UNEXPECTED APPOINTMENT 295 

The next day found Owen in the woods, working 
as if nothing unusual had happened. Dale was sent 
down to the tool house near the office, to bring up 
some oil needed on the donkey engine. 

Dale was about to step into the tool house when 
he saw a man alight from one of the lumber trucks 
on the railroad track, and come toward the main 
office. The man looked slightly familiar, and as he 
came closer the young lumberman recognized the 
individual as the one he had seen in the lumber office 
in Detroit, while waiting to see Mr. Wilbur. 

“ Hullo ! ” he heard Ulmer Balasco call out. “ I 
wasn’t looking for you to-day, Hildan ! ” And then 
the man shook hands with the lumber dealer and 
stepped into the office. 

“ Foxy Hildan ! ” thought Dale, and then he re- 
membered how he had heard the man’s name before. 
“ He had some dealings with Mr. Wilbur in De- 
troit, and with that thin man at the lumber office 
there. This is getting interesting.” 

From the window of the tool house he could see 
the two men in the office, and also see the book- 
keeper working away over the books. 

Ulmer Balasco and Foxy Hildan were talking 
very earnestly, but presently he saw Balasco hold up 
his hand as a warning, and jerk his thumb toward 
the bookkeeper. Then the two men came out of 


296 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

the building and walked along a path running be- 
hind the tool house. 

Dale hardly knew what to do, and before he re- 
alized it the two men were within a dozen feet of 
where he was standing, behind several boxes and 
casks. The men had halted, and were talking as 
earnestly as ever. 

“ Now don’t you worry at all,” he heard Foxy 
Hildan say. “ I’ve got Wilbur fixed, and he won’t 
come anywhere near you. He thinks everything is 
going along as smoothly as possible.” 

“But when the blow falls ” began Ulmer 

Balasco. 

“ We’ll stand from under, and he’ll be the only 
man to get hit.” Foxy Hildan laughed coldly. 
“ Why, Balasco, don’t you know that this means at 
least ten thousand dollars to us ? ” 

“ I know that.” 

“ And when the company goes to smash, you and 
I can buy it in on the quiet, for what that railroad 
contract brings. It’s a dead-easy, open-and-shut 
proposition.” 

“ If we can keep Wilbur away for two weeks 
longer, Foxy. I’m holding back the lumber all I 
can, without creating too much suspicion.” 

“ Well, keep on holding it back. Don’t get scared 
with the prize almost in your hand.” 


AN UNEXPECTED APPOINTMENT 297 

“ The trouble is, a couple of young fellows who 
are out here have written to him to come on, 
and ” 

“ You said that before. Well, I’ll send him an 
important telegram to come to San Francisco, and 
that will keep him away.” 

So the talk ran on, in channels that were new to 
Dale. But he caught the gist of the matter. These 
men were going to keep Jefferson Wilbur away 
from this plant at all hazards — and ruin him. 

“ They shan’t do it ! I’ll telegraph for him to 
come on at once ! ” thought the young lumberman. 
“ I’ll show Mr. Ulmer Balasco and Foxy Hildan 
that they are not as smart as they imagine ! ” 

As soon as the men had departed, Dale left the 
tool house on the run. He made his way straight 
for the yard where Owen was at work, and called 
his chum to one side. 

“ Can that be possible! ” exclaimed Owen, when 
he had heard the story. “ They are certainly a 
pair of rascals. Yes, we must send word to Mr. 
Wilbur just as quickly as we can.” 

With Andy Westmore as foreman it was an easy 
matter to get away. Both jumped on a log train 
bound for the creek, and arriving at the end of the 
run, hurried on foot toward Tunley. 

“ Hullo, you back here again? ” cried the station 


298 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

master to Owen. “ That’s queer. Tolly just said 
he had taken down a mighty important message for 
you.” 

Tolly was the operator at the station. 

“ Where is he ? ” asked Owen, and looked mean- 
ingly at Dale. 

“ Here he comes now.” 

In a moment more the operator appeared. He 
carried in his hand a sealed telegram envelope. 

“ Here is Owen Webb now ! ” called out the sta- 
tion master. 

“ Are you Owen Webb? ” asked the operator cu- 
riously, and he looked the young lumberman over 
from head to foot. 

“ That’s my handle,” replied Owen, using an ex- 
pression he had picked up since coming West. 

“ Then this is for you.” The operator handed 
over the message. “ I wish you luck,” he added. 
“ I was counting on something happening before 
long,” and he walked away. 

Trying to keep down his feelings, Owen tore open 
the envelope and took out the telegram. For such 
a communication it was quite long, and ran as 
follows : 

“ Owen Webb, Tunley, Ore. 

“ Report received. I hereby appoint you my rep- 
resentative at the camp and the office of the Wilbur- 


AN UNEXPECTED APPOINTMENT 299 

Balasco Company until my arrival. Show this to 
Balasco as your authority. That railroad contract 
must be pushed through. Will telegraph Rice, 
asking him to assist you if necessary. Total out- 
put must go to railroad. Stop work on flume. Keep 
Dale Bradford with you until I see him. Important. 

“ Jefferson Wilbur.” 

Owen read the telegram twice and allowed Dale 
to do the same over his shoulder. Then the friends 
looked at each other. 

“ Here’s a job for you, Owen. How do you like it ? ” 

“ Oh, I guess I can pull through,” was the grim 
answer. “ But just imagine Ulmer Balasco’s feel- 
ing when I tell him what’s doing! ” 

“ Mr. Wilbur wants me to stay with you until he 
sees me, and says it is important. What can that 
mean ? ” 

“ I don’t know, I’m sure, unless it has something 
to do with that mining claim your father owned.” 

Dale’s face lit up, and then fell again. 

“ Oh, I’m not going to raise any false hopes,” he 
said. “ Perhaps he wants to give us both steady 
positions here, and don’t want me to go away merely 
because Balasco discharged me.” 

Owen stretched himself, as if getting ready to 
heave on a big stick of timber. 

“ I’ve got some work cut out for me, no doubt of 


300 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

that,” he said. “ I shouldn’t wonder if I’d have 
something like a fight with Balasco.” 

“ If he says too much I’ll take a hand and let him 
know what I overheard in the tool house.” 

“ Do you think it worth while to send that mes- 
sage we were going to ? ” 

“ No, for it isn’t likely Mr. Wilbur will get it. 
He may be on the train bound for here already.” 

“ I wish I could get word to Mr. Rice. He is a 
fine man and will probably help me all he can.” 

“ I’ll tell you how we can do it. Walk over to 
the Dennison camp and telephone. There is a pri- 
vate wire.” 

This was agreed to, and without the loss of a mo- 
ment they hurried to the Dennison camp, a mile and 
a half away. Permission to use the wire was readily 
given, and Owen soon had the owner of the saw- 
and shingle-mill at the telephone. 

“ Yes, I just got the telegram from Wilbur,” said 
Philip Rice, in reply to Owen’s question. “ I’m 
glad he’s alive to the fact that something is 
wrong.” 

“ Will you back me up, if I have trouble? ” 

“ Certainly I will. I’ll help Wilbur every time. 
I’ll be up at your office this afternoon at four o’clock 
sharp. And by the way: he sent word to me to 
have that Baptiste Ducrot arrested. I’ve telephoned 


AN UNEXPECTED APPOINTMENT 301 

to the sheriff of this county, so, if you need that 
officer up your way, all you’ve got to do is to let 
me know/’ 

“ I don’t know if I’ll have to go as far as that,” 
answered Owen, and then added : “ Wait a minute. 
My friend Dale Bradford is with me. He heard 
some queer talk between Balasco and Foxy Hildan 
a couple of hours ago. Perhaps we’ll have to have 
Hildan held.” 

“ If you can prove anything against him have 
him held by all means ! ” exclaimed Philip Rice. 
“ Fifty lumbermen in Oregon and California will 
bless you for it.” 

“ Then you had better bring the sheriff with 
you,” replied Owen; and after a few more words 
the conversation was brought to a close. 

It must be admitted that Owen’s heart beat 
strongly when he journeyed back to the lumber 
camp. He knew that Ulmer Balasco was a hard 
man with whom to deal, and that the task before 
him was one by no means easy. 

“ But Mr. Wilbur is in the right,” he said to Dale. 
“ And I am going to stick up for him to the finish. 
That lumber has got to go down to the river — every 
stick of it — and in jig time, too.” 

“ If I were you I’d take Andy Westmore into my 
confidence before I spoke to Balasco,” said Dale. 


302 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

“ He knows this camp from end to end, and he’ll 
know exactly what to do with the men.” 

“ That’s a good idea, Dale, and I’ll tell Bruce 
Howard and a few of the others too.” 

Not to be seen by Ulmer Balasco, they took a 
roundabout way to the yard where Andy Westmore 
and Bruce were at work. While Owen told the old 
lumberman the news, and showed the telegram, Dale 
related the particulars to Bruce. 

“ It’s what I expected,” said Andy Westmore. 
“ It should have happened two weeks ago. That 
contract only runs two weeks and three days longer. 
We’ll have to hustle like mad to fill it on time.” 

“ Will you stick by me, Westmore? I’ll appoint 
you head yardmaster from this minute if you will.” 

“ It’s a go, Webb! ” They shook hands. “ We’ll 
put her through or bust ! ” 

Bruce was equally delighted. “ I just want to 
see old Balasco tumble,” he said. “ It serves him 
right — especially if he was trying to harm his part- 
ner. A man who will go back on his partner is 
as mean as dirt.” 

Inside of half an hour over a dozen of the men 
had been interviewed, and without an exception they 
agreed to abide by Owen’s orders. Then the young 
lumberman, accompanied by Dale and Westmore, 
walked to the office to “ have it out ” with Balasco. 


CHAPTER XXXIII 


THE RAILROAD CONTRACT 

“ I wonder if Foxy Hildan is still around,” said 
Dale, just before the office was reached. 

“ He went up to the flume,” said Andy Westmore. 
“ I saw him just before you fellows came up.” 

“ Alone ? ” queried Owen. 

“ No, one of the foremen was with him.” 

When they entered the office they found Ulmer 
Balasco pacing the floor. He gazed at them in won- 
der and scowled. 

“ It’s no use of talking ! ” he cried, before anybody 
else could speak. “ Eve made up my mind, and that 
settles it.” 

“We are not here to ask you to take us back,” re- 
torted Dale quickly. “ If I want work I shall apply 
to Mr. Webb here for it,” and something like a grin 
overspread his face. 

“ I don’t know what you are talking about,” re- 
turned Ulmer Balasco, in a puzzled way. 

“ Mr. Balasco, we’ll have to come to an under- 
standing,” said Owen, quietly but firmly. “ I’ve got 
something very disagreeable to tell you, but that can’t 
303 


304 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

be helped. To come down to business, I received a 
telegram from Mr. Wilbur this morning. ,, 

The lumber dealer started, and Dale imagined he 
clutched at the desk to steady himself. 

“ A telegram ? ” he repeated slowly. 

“ Yes, sir. In that telegram he stated that the 
contract with the railroad must be put through, and 
that work on the flume must stop.” 

“ Indeed ! And what have you to do with my 
business, I’d like to know.” 

“ Nothing at all, sir, with your business; but 
everything with Mr. Wilbur’s business. He is com- 
ing out here as soon as he can, and in the meantime 
he has appointed me his representative here.” 

“ You! ” almost screamed Ulmer Balasco. 

“ Yes, me. If you want to read the telegram, here 
it is.” 

The lumber dealer fairly snatched the slip from 
Owen’s grasp, and devoured its contents. His face 
grew pale, and it was impossible for him to hold the 
sheet of paper still. 

“ So this is what you have been up to, eh? ” he 
stammered. “ Spies, just as I suspected.” 

“ We are not spies. Mr. Wilbur has been our 
friend, and when he asked us to let him know how 
things were going here we merely wrote him the 
truth,” 


THE RAILROAD CONTRACT 305 

" You told me it was on account of a French- 
Canadian ” 

“ So it was/' put in Dale. “ Mr. Wilbur has tel- 
egraphed to Mr. Rice about that man, and the 
sheriff is to arrest him.” 

“ And Mr. Rice is to assist me — in case I have 
any trouble here,” put in Owen significantly. 

“ Do you imagine I am going to abide by what 
that telegram says. Why, it isn’t worth the paper 
it’s written on ! ” fumed Ulmer Balasco. “ I am 
master here; Wilbur has no authority whatever.” 

“ That is a matter of opinion.” 

“ No, it is a matter of fact — our agreement reads 
that way.” 

“ I haven’t seen the agreement, but no matter 
what it says, you have no right to run this business 
so as to ruin Mr. Wilbur,” went on Owen warmly. 

“ Ruin him ? Who says I am ruining him ? ” 

“ I do. You are doing your best to run behind on 
that railroad contract. Instead of sending lumber 
down to the river, you are sending it up to the flume, 
and you are not cutting half as much ” 

“ I won’t listen ! ” shouted Ulmer Balasco. “ I 
won’t listen! I tell you I am master here. If I 
want to finish the flume I’ll do it.” 

“ After the railroad contract is finished, not be- 
fore,” came stubbornly from Owen. “ All that lum- 


306 two young lumbermen 

ber is going down to the Columbia just as fast as the 
cars and the creek can carry it.” 

“ You defy me? ” and now Ulmer Balasco shook 
his fist in the young lumberman's face. 

“ Put down that hand, Mr. Balasco,” said Owen, 
a strange gleam in his eyes, and the hand fell in 
spite of the lumber dealer’s effort to threaten. 
“ There is no need of our having a fight over this 
thing. Either you’ll agree to do as I say, or I shall 
call in the sheriff.” 

“ The sheriff?” 

“ Exactly. Your business connection with Mr. 
Foxy Hildan is well known, and does not in the least 
reflect to your credit. I don’t know exactly how far 
Mr. Wilbur wishes to go in the case, but if I were 
you I wouldn’t stir him up too much.” 

Ulmer Balasco’s jaw dropped, and now he actu- 
ally leaned against the desk for support. 

“ I — I haven’t had anything to do with Hildan,” 
he stammered weakly. 

“ We can prove otherwise,” put in Dale. “ You 
and he are plotting to ruin Mr. Wilbur, but the 
scheme won’t work, and the best thing you can do 
is to drop Foxy Hildan, and help finish that rail- 
road contract on time.” 

“ Didn’t I say I was doing all I could on the con- 
tract? ” 



Ulmer Balasco shook his fist in the young 1 lumberman’s face, 

Page 306. 























. 
















THE RAILROAD CONTRACT 307 

“ And we know better.” 

“ Mr. Balasco, are you going to recognize my 
authority or not ? ” demanded Owen. “ I’ll give you 
ten minutes in which to make up your mind.” 

“ And if I refuse what will you do next? ” 

“ Telephone to Mr. Rice to bring up the sheriff.” 
And as he spoke Owen stepped up to the telephone 
booth, which stood between the outer and the inner 
offices. 

“ No ! no ! stop ! ” cried Ulmer Balasco. “ Don’t 
do that! I tell you there is some mistake.” He 
breathed heavily. “ Let me think it over. I’ll give 
you my answer to-morrow.” 

“ No, sir, you’ll give it to me now,” came from 
Owen, and he made a move as if to enter the tele- 
phone booth. 

Rushing forward, Ulmer Balasco clutched him by 
the arm. “ You must not do it — it’s outrageous! ” 

“ Will you let me take charge of the work? ” 

“ You don’t understand what is to be done.” 

“ Perhaps not. But Andy Westmore does, and 
I shall appoint him head yardmaster for the time 
being.” 

“ I can do the work right enough,” came from 
Westmore. 

“ Are you in league with Webb? ” demanded the 
lumber dealer. 


308 two young lumbermen 

“ I’m willing to be, Mr. Balasco. And so are a lot 
of the other men.” 

“ This is a — er — a revolution ! ” 

“ Oh, no ; we only want to help fulfill that rail- 
road contract,” and a twinkle shone in the old lum- 
bermans black eyes. 

“ If you are all against me, I may as well resign 
at once,” grumbled Ulmer Balasco, and Owen saw 
that the fight was fast oozing out of him. “ But I 
must say, I didn’t think Wilbur would play me such 
an underhanded trick.” 

“ It is no trick, Mr. Balasco. This trouble you 
brought on yourself. Then I am to take charge? ” 

“ What are you going to do? ” 

“ Order every stick of timber in the yards and up 
at the flume down to the river, and put all the men 
at work on the job. Then I’m going to get more 
fellers and sawyers at Portland, if they are to be had, 
and open up Yards 9 and 10, and have donkey No. 
2 repaired.” 

“ You can’t get men this time of the year, and that 
engine isn’t worth fixing.” 

“ I can try for the men, and Bruce Howard says 
the donkey can be patched up with but little 
trouble — that the boiler is as good as new.” 

“ Is that boy in this scheme too ? He ought to 
have his walking papers ! ” 


THE RAILROAD CONTRACT 309 

“ He is a good workman, and shall stay. Now 
what do you say — is it peace or war? Remember 
what I said before: you had better not stir up Mr. 
Wilbur too much.” 

Ulmer Balasco took a turn up and down the office, 
then dropped heavily into his chair. 

“ Go ahead and do as you please. If Wilbur 
wants to run the business he can do it, and I’ll get 
out as soon as I can. But remember one thing.” 
Ulmer Balasco pointed his long finger at Owen. 
“If you try to manage things and fail on that con- 
tract, you and Wilbur will be responsible, not 
myself.” 

“ I want to see that contract,” returned Owen 
calmly. 

“ I don’t know as I’ve got to show it to you.” 

“As Mr. Wilbur’s representative, I demand you 
do so.” Owen pointed to Westmore and Dale. 
“ These are my witnesses that I now make such a 
demand.” 

Muttering something under his breath, Ulmer 
Balasco flung himself from his chair and walked to 
the office safe. In a moment more he had a docu- 
ment out of a tin box. 

“ There you are,” he growled. “ Now I wash 
my hands of the whole affair. If you fail, Wilbur 
shall stand the loss, not myself.” 


310 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

And so speaking, he shut the safe, banged shut 
his roller-top desk, slapped his hat on his head, and 
strode from the office, leaving Owen and the others 
masters of the field. 

The reader can well imagine with what interest 
the young lumbermen perused the document before 
them. It was a lengthy affair, and from it they 
gleaned more information than expected. 

“ As Westmore says, the contract ends two weeks 
and a half from to-day,” said Owen. “ That gives 
us exactly fifteen days in which to get out the 
balance of that timber. How many sticks still to 
cut, Westmore ?” 

“ According to this paper about two hundred,” 
answered the old lumberman. “ That is, if you're 
going to send down all the flume stuff* first.” 

“ To be sure — everything must go that isn't 
sawed up.” 

“ According to this document this company isn't 
a regular company at all,” said Dale, who had been 
reading with care. “It speaks of Ulmer Balasco 
and of Jefferson Wilbur as if they were separate 
dealers working together. But the forfeit was put 
up by Jefferson Wilbur. I don't quite under- 
stand it.” 

“ I think I know something about that,” put in 
Westmore. “ You see, before Balasco and Wilbur 


THE RAILROAD CONTRACT 311 

joined forces the land up near the flume and at 
Yards 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 belonged to Wilbur. The 
land down here, along the creek and at Yards 1, 2, 
3, and 4 belonged to somebody else. Balasco 
bought them, and cut Wilbur off from both the creek 
and the river. Then they compromised and patched 
up some sort of a partnership, by which Balasco 
was to run things out here and get a percentage from 
Wilbur on all lumber that went down the creek or 
the railroad. You see the creek didn’t quite reach 
Wilbur’s claim, so he couldn’t use it without Ba- 
lasco’s permission.” 

“ But the Wilbur claim is by far the best,” said 
Dale. “ This land down here is mighty rocky, and 
the timber is all second-class.” 

“ That’s right. Years ago the lumbermen 
wouldn’t touch this timber at all. Some prospectors 
thought they’d find gold or silver here, or some other 
metals, but what they got wasn’t worth trying for. 
I reckon Balasco got this land for a song.” 


CHAPTER XXXIV 

DALE COMES INTO HIS OWN 

“ One thing we ought not to forget to do,” said 
Dale. “ That is to keep an eye on Foxy Hildan.” 

“ Yes, I’ll watch him,” replied Owen. “ But it is 
more than likely that he will make himself scarce 
when he finds out how the wind has shifted.” 

It soon became noised around that Owen had 
been appointed to represent Mr. Wilbur at the camp, 
and that Andy Westmore had been made head yard- 
master. This was followed by a general order from 
Owen that all lumber at the yards and at the flume 
should be shipped down to the Columbia as fast 
as the cars and the creek could carry the sticks. In 
addition to this a notice was posted up at the Tunley 
station that fellers and sawyers were wanted im- 
mediately, and an advertisement to that effect was 
likewise inserted in the Portland daily newspapers. 

Some of the men, influenced doubtless by Ulmer 
Balasco, were inclined to resent Owen’s authority, 
but when one hook-tender was promptly discharged, 
the others reconsidered the matter, and after that 
there was little or no trouble among the hands. Some 

3f2 


DALE COMES INTO HIS OWN 313 

took the matter as a joke, for lumbermen are as a 
class light-hearted, and the Scandinavians waited 
on the new boss in a body, and demanded that he 
show his authority in the proper manner — by giving 
them a spread with plenty to drink. 

“ You shall have a spread,” said Owen. “ But it 
will be after this railroad contract is filled. Get this 
through on time, and on Mr. Wilbur’s behalf I 
promise you that every worker shall receive a sub- 
stantial bonus for his labor.” 

This announcement caused a cheer, and the men 
went to work with renewed vigor. Soon some new 
hands came in, and were taken on promptly by 
Owen, and the ring of the axes and the sound of the 
saws came early and late from the yards and the 
forest. The men on the railroad were kept at work 
two hours extra out of twenty-four, and three extra 
men were placed at the river to see that all the lumber 
went forward to the railroad company without 
delay. 

“ Using more cars now, I see,” said one of the 
railroad officials, to Dale, at the end of the second 
day of the new order of things. 

“ Yes, sir, and you’ll have to give us more yet by 
day after to-morrow.” 

“ Balasco wasn’t in such a hurry.” 

“ Well, we are bound to make a sure thing of this 


314 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


contract. Remember, thirty cars to-morrow, and 
forty after that.” 

Mr. Rice had come up and was much pleased to 
see that Owen had matters in hand. 

“You are doing just right,” he said. “Keep it 
up, and you are bound to come out on top.” 

“ Did you arrest Ducrot? ” 

“ No, he got away from us, but not before one of 
the men blackened one of his eyes and broke his nose 
for him. You see* I fancy he smelt a mouse, and 
one night he tried to leave our place on the sly. He 
took with him a suit of clothing belonging to one man, 
and some gold belonging to another. The clothes 
owner went after him and collared him near the 
river, and they had a free fight. Ducrot had to give 
up the stuff, and was nearly pounded to death before 
he escaped to a boat that was leaving. We tried to 
trace him up, but it did no good.” 

“ Well, I am glad the man gave him a sound beat- 
ing,” answered Owen, “ Perhaps it will do him 
good.” 

Philip Rice wanted to know what had become of 
Foxy Hildan, and was told that he had gone away 
with Ulmer Balasco the night before. 

“ Balasco said he would be back to-night,” said 
Dale. “ But perhaps he won’t come.” 

“ He gave me the combination of the safe,” said 


DALE COMES INTO HIS OWN 315 

Owen. “ I didn’t want it, but he insisted that if I 
was going to run things, I should know about every- 
thing.” 

“ Humph! You just keep your eyes open.” 

“ What do you mean ? ” 

“ Do you know what is in the safe ? ” 

“ No.” 

“ Then don’t become responsible for it. If you 
do he may claim that you took something out when 
he wasn’t around.” 

This view of the matter worried Owen a good 
deal, but, as Balasco was now away, he could do 
nothing. 

Bruce Howard had been sent down the Columbia 
to bring some machinery needed at one of the yards. 
He came back late that night, and at once aroused 
Owen, who had just dropped asleep. 

“ What do you want ? ” demanded the young 
lumberman. 

“ I just came in,” answered Bruce. “ Mr. Ba- 
lasco and that Hildan were ahead of me, and they 
have gone into the private office. I thought maybe 
you’d like to know about it.” 

“ I do want to know about it ! ” cried Owen, and 
aroused Dale. In a few minutes they were dressed, 
and then they walked toward the private office, tell- 
ing Bruce to come along. 


3 16 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

A dim light was burning in the office, and they 
sneaked up noiselessly and in a roundabout way, so 
as not to be seen should anybody be on the watch. 
They saw Hildan appear at a window and look out 
for a few seconds, then the curtain was drawn down. 

“ They are going to go through that safe, and 
I know it,” muttered Owen, and he was right. 
Peering under the curtain they saw Balasco and Hil- 
dan on the floor in front of the safe, going through 
half a dozen documents. Some of the documents 
Hildan placed in his pocket. Then he brought other 
documents from another pocket and placed these in 
a corner of the strong box. 

“ The rascals ! ” muttered Dale. “ Owen, they are 
trying to pile up trouble for you ! ” 

“ Well, both of you are witnesses to what they 
are doing,” was the grim answer. 

“ That’s true enough,” came from Bruce. “ I’m 
mighty glad I spotted them.” 

At that moment they heard a noise some distance 
away. Looking forth into the darkness, they saw 
the form of a man approaching on horseback. Dale 
ran to meet him. 

“ Mr. Wilbur!” 

“Hullo, is that you, Bradford? What are you 
doing out this time of night ? ” And then the lumber 
merchant and capitalist rode nearer. 


DALE COMES INTO HIS OWN 


317 


Owen now came up, leaving Bruce to continue 
watching those in the office. 

“ I am awfully glad you’ve got here, Mr. Wilbur,” 
Owen said warmly, as he shook hands. “ But I 
didn’t expect you this time of night.” 

“ I came in on the midnight Limited, and got a 
special order to have it stop at Tunley. Did you 
get my telegram ? ” 

“ I did, and I am pushing the work as well as I 
can. But Mr. Balasco is very sore, and I think he 
and that Foxy Hildan are plotting more mis- 
chief. They are now in the office at the safe, and 
we were watching them. You see, Mr. Balasco 
turned over the combination of the safe to me, and 
he ” 

“ I understand.” Jefferson Wilbur’s voice grew 
stern. “ I don’t think, though, that I’ll have much 
trouble with him. Come with me.” 

Bruce was introduced, and the party of four 
walked to the offices. The main entrance was un- 
locked, and they threw open the door and Dale 
lit the large swinging lamp. Then the inner door 
opened, and Jefferson Wilbur and Ulmer Balasco 
found themselves face to face. 

For the moment there was utter silence, Ulmer 
Balasco staring mutely at his partner, and Jefferson 
Wilbur eying the man before him critically. 


3 18 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

“ What are you up to at this time of night, Ba- 
lasco? ” asked Mr. Wilbur, at length. 

“ I was — er — looking for some of my private 
papers,” stammered the other. “ Now that you have 
placed this young fellow in charge, I didn’t want him 
to get mixed up in my private affairs.” 

“ I don’t wish anything to do with your private 
affairs,” retorted Owen quickly. 

“ We may as well come to an understanding to- 
night instead of to-morrow,” went on Jefferson Wil- 
bur. “ I know exactly how you have been acting, 
Balasco. What have you to say for yourself ? ” 

“ I reckon I had a right to do as I thought best,” 
growled Ulmer Balasco. 

“And ruin me? No, indeed!” 

“ I wasn’t going to ruin anybody.” 

“ Yes, you were. I was to be forced out, and 
then you and Hildan were going to run things to suit 
yourselves.” 

“ So you think you are going to drag me into 
this,” put in Foxy Hildan. “ Well, let me say, I 
won’t stand for it.” 

“ But you will,” said Jefferson Wilbur sternly. 
“ Do you know what happened in Detroit yesterday ? 
Radley Force was caught manipulating the books 
and he made a confession concerning both himself 
and you. In a few day the plain truth will be in the 


DALE COMES INTO HIS OWN 


319 


mouths of all, and lumbermen generally will know 
exactly what sort of a man Foxy Hildan is. Hildan, 
I was a fool to trust you and Balasco, but my eyes 
are open at last,” added Jefferson Wilbur ear- 
nestly. 

“ See here, I won’t stand for this sort of talk ! ” 
came blusteringly from Ulmer Balasco. “ Now you 
are here, I’ll tell you what I propose to do. Just as 
soon as this railroad contract is at an end, I shall 
withdraw from our limited partnership, and then 
you can market your own lumber.” 

“ Well, I imagine I can do that too,” answered 
Jefferson Wilbur, and a strange smile shone on his 
face. 

“ Can you? Well, we’ll see. You’ll have to go a 
long way around to get to the river, or the railroad 
either.” 

“ Not at all — that is, if I can make the necessary 
arrangement with Dale Bradford here — and I think 
I can.” 

“An arrangement with me?” queried Dale, in 
bewilderment. “ What do you mean, Mr. Wilbur ? ” 

“ I mean this : this lumber tract is really di- 
vided into two parts. The upper part, that away 
from the creek, belongs to me outright. This part 
down here I always supposed belonged to Ulmer 
Balasco, for he said he had purchased it from some 


320 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

mining company that had gone to pieces. But when 
you sent out those documents about your late 
father’s mining claim, I had them investigated by 
my lawyers, and they have discovered that this 
claim does not belong to Ulmer Balasco at all, but 
to you ! ” 


CHAPTER XXXV 


END OF THE CONTRACT AND OF THE STORY 

For the moment Dale thought he must be dream- 
ing. This section of the lumber camp his own prop- 
erty! It was too good to be true. 

“ Mr. Wilbur, do you mean ” he began. 

“ That is, are you sure ” 

“ Yes, Bradford, the lawyers are certain that this 
claim belongs to you, since you are your late father’s 
sole heir. Ulmer Balasco does not own a foot of the 
ground, nor a single stick of timber.” 

“ It is false ! ” cried Ulmer Balasco, but his voice 
was weak and uncertain. 

“ I have said it is true, and before long I will 
prove it to the satisfaction of everybody,” went on 
Jefferson Wilbur. “ Balasco got hold of the claim 
by a trick, after the mine that was once located along 
the creek stopped operations. He learned that your 
father was dead, and thought that he was safe.” 

“ But didn’t he know the name was the same? ” 
questioned Owen. 

“ Bradford’s father bought the claim from the 
Warded Mining Company, run by a man named 


321 


322 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

Henry Wardell, a schemer who was at one time 
in business with Foxy Hildan. It is possible that 
Balasco thought the claim was still in the Wardell 
family, after Wardell himself died.” 

“ I — I bought the claim from Wardell,” said Ba- 
lasco. “ I — I can prove it by Hildan.” 

“ That story won’t stand investigation, Balasco. 
The Bradford claim is a matter of record, and 
cannot be shaken. If you want to go to law over it 
you may do so, but I’ll stand by Bradford. I don’t 
think it will pay either you or Hildan to get into a 
courtroom.” 

As Jefferson Wilbur concluded he turned, just in 
time to see Foxy Hildan slipping out of the door- 
way to the main office. 

“ He is running away ! ” cried Owen. 

“ If you want him I’ll catch him ! ” replied Bruce, 
who was nearest to the door. In a twinkling he 
was outside, and running after Foxy Hildan. He 
caught up to the man with ease, and putting out his 
foot, sent Hildan sprawling headlong over a pile of 
chips. When the man arose Bruce caught him 
firmly by the arm. 

“ Let go of me, you young rascal ! ” 

“ I will not,” answered Bruce, and in a moment 
Owen appeared, and between them they compelled 
Hildan to return to the offices. 


END OF THE CONTRACT 


323 


Half a dozen men had been aroused by the run- 
ning and shouting, and soon the offices began to fill 
up. Many were glad to see Mr. Wilbur and shook 
hands with him. All were astonished to learn the 
news that part of the lumber tract belonged to Dale, 
and not to Balaisco. 

“ I reckon he’ll make a good enough boss,” said 
one of the men. “ I liked him and Webb the minute 
I clapped eyes on ’em,” and others said the same. 

A conference lasting until sunrise followed, the 
principals to the talk being Mr. Wilbur, Ulmer Ba- 
lasco, Hildan, Dale, and Owen. Before it was over 
both Balasco and Hildan weakened completely, and 
promised to do anything that Jefferson Wilbur 
wished if he would not prosecute them. 

“ All I wish both of you to do is to treat me and 
Bradford fairly,” said Jefferson Wilbur. 

“ I’ll do it,” said Ulmer Balasco. 

“ So will I,” put in Foxy Hildan. “ And I’ll 
help you with that contract, too, if you say so.” 

“ I don’t want your assistance,” responded Jeffer- 
son Wilbur coldly. 

“ You just leave us alone and we’ll put that con- 
tract through with bells on,” came from Owten. 
Then he squeezed Dale’s hand. “ And to think, Dale, 
you are part owner of this lumber tract! It beats 
all!” 


324 TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 

“ It certainly does beat all,” answered Dale. “ I’ll 
be a lumberman now and no mistake — and you shall 
be my head man, that is, if Mr. Wilbur will agree.” 

“ And that will suit me,” said Owen. “ Tell you 
what, coming out to Oregon was a lucky thing for 
us, wasn’t it ? ” 

Let me add a few words more and then bring 
this tale of “ Two Young Lumbermen ” to a close. 

In due course of time the necessary papers were 
drawn up which gave to Dale undisputed possession 
of the land claim which Ulmer Balasco had for so 
many years called his own. Balasco signed off every 
alleged right, and in addition paid Dale the sum of 
four thousand dollars, cash received for lumber sold 
outside of the Wilbur-Balasco Combination. Then 
Balasco disappeared, and with him went Foxy Hil- 
dan, and the others were glad to get rid of them. 

As Dale was not yet of age, it was necessary that 
a guardian be appointed for him. For this service 
Mr. Rice was called in, and agreed to serve. Jef- 
ferson Wilbur could not act, for the reason that a 
new company was formed by himself and Mr. Rice, 
the latter acting for Dale. As soon as this formation 
was complete, Dale went into the office as local man- 
ager, and Owen became the head man outside, with 
Andy Westmore as chief assistant. Bruce Howard 


END OF THE CONTRACT 325 

might also have had a better position, but he 
declined. 

“ I am much obliged to all of you for your kind- 
ness/' he said. “ But as I told you before, I don’t 
much care for life in a lumber camp. I want to get 
among the iron and steel workers and make some- 
thing of myself in that industry,” and shortly after 
that he left the camp, and his place on the donkey en- 
gine was taken by another. How Bruce struck out, 
and whether he succeeded or failed in his under- 
taking, will be told in another volume of this “ Great 
American Industries Series,” a story dealing largely 
with the iron and steel output of our country. 

The many changes going on did not prevent Owen 
from going at the railroad contract “ tooth and nail,” 
as Dale laughingly expressed it. All he did was ap- 
proved of by Jefferson Wilbur, and that gentleman 
himself grew quite enthusiastic as the time on the 
contract grew shorter. 

“ Oh, we’re bound to win out ! ” cried Owen. 
“ We’ve simply got to do it;” and during the last 
forty-eight hours he went out himself, and he and 
Dale worked as hard as anybody, bringing down the 
last trees required to fill the order. When the final 
load reached the Columbia, and was transferred to 
the railroad, there was a general rejoicing. 

“ Filled ! ” cried Dale, and threw up his cap. 


326 


TWO YOUNG LUMBERMEN 


“ Yes, and with half a day to spare,” added Owen. 
“ We could supply them with twenty more sticks if 
they wanted them.” 

“ You have done well,” put in Jefferson Wilbur, 
“ very well indeed, and so has everybody connected 
with this plant.” And at the end of the week the 
employees received the bonus that Owen had prom- 
ised them. Owen himself was not forgotten, and 
he placed the money in the old cigar box with a 
laugh. 

“ Going to keep on saving,” he said, with a merry 
glance at Dale. “ Don't expect to be as rich as you, 
but I'll have something for a rainy day.” 

“ We’re going to form a stock company when I 
am of age,” answered Dale. “ And when we do, 
Mr. Wilbur and I have agreed to let you in on 
the ground floor. So bring out your old violin to- 
night, Owen, and give us a tune and be happy.” 

“Happy! how could a fellow be otherwise, in 
such a glorious spot as this,” said Owen. He lifted 
his cap and took in a deep breath from the pine 
forest. “ Beats a city all to nothing, doesn’t it, 
Dale? Tell you what, I’d rather be a lumberman 
than be a king ! ” 


THE END 




































4 




























































































































































































































* 
























































































































































































1 

D!V. 



NOVi 9 1903 


NOV. 16 1903 



























* 








